SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Cheltenham Festival Tuesday

We’re back at Cheltenham and contrary to any fears of waning interest and people going to Benidorm instead, there as a real buzz about the place, writes SIMON NOTT.

Star Sports bet number two on the rail and number three in Tatts. On the rails, pitch Flynn had come out of retirement to bet on the rail with, Lofty and Ricky while over on the Tatts pitch, Ben, Kaan, Tony, Hannah and Nick got to work. One of the first bets they laid set the scene for the sort of business that you’d hope for at the festival a £60,000 treble Kopek Des Bordes, Majborough and Constitution Hill. That was a stand out bet of course, but punters were piling in, it’s a long time since I’ve seen it so busy on the opener.

Anyone who went to Spain instead to save a few quid, how do you feel? This is also the first time that punters were allowed to bring their beers into Tatts which must have helped business no end.

As well as the two pitches in the ring, Star Sports had a team up in the Sovereign Lounge whose customers had their card marked by Lofty before racing – good or bad for them? You decide!

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1:20 – Michael O’Sullivan Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (4yo+) 2m½f (2m87y)

The first race was run in memory of Michael O’Sullivan, which got several huge rounds of applause. Bets kept piling in, £5000 – £5500, £2000 – £2200, I gave up trying to keep up, the last bet on the rails was £8000 – £11,000. While the maelstrom of bets was in full floor, you’d hear Ben screaming for ‘Cigars’, ‘Sweets’ ‘Chinese Menus (don’t ask) customer service at the fore.

At the off, the rails had Kopek Des Bordes losing £25,000 and Tatts £85,000. They needed a result, but never looked like having a sniff of getting one, the jolly bolted up, the crowd at Cheltenham cheered Ole Ole Ole, they’d copped the lot on the opener. The Racing Post started posting about ‘Bloodbath Accas’, it was a bit soon for that, wasn’t it?

To make things worse, the TikTok punter that bet an even £21,300 the winner at Kempton last meeting came to draw – feel for Tony who had to count it!

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2:00 – My Pension Expert Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase (Grade 1) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (5yo+) 2m (1m7f199y)

The next leg of the treble, Majborough opened at bottle-on though punters were struggling to take it, given the number of people trying to draw their winnings. The Tatts book already showed an £80,000 plus loss thanks to the treble running up. Over on the rail they were taking £4000, £2000 and grand bets the favourite but also laid 25/1 to a monkey each-way Only By Night. Business had been a bit lighter mainly due to the payouts, but still very brisk.

Well, what can you say about the race? Incredible.

Majborough had he jumped better would have won half the track, but he didn’t, he was beaten by both Jango Baie and Only By Night in what was a classic Cheltenham finish, Jango Baie came from nowhere to win, both books copped £15,000 bit of course that treble was thwarted so £60,000 plus previous winnings in the hod. Kaan ‘forgot to mention’ a separate £10,000 bet the same treble previously, funny how Cheltenham makes a bit that would have been the highlight of a blog at any other meeting a footnote!

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2:40 – Ultima Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (5YO plus) 3m 1f

Next up and the big handicap but punters were keen to get stuck in on later races, bets included £26,000 in Constitution Hill at 8/11 and £10,000 on Lossiemouth at 4/5. The first decent bet on this race in Tatts was £2500 each-way at 7/1 The Changing Man, over on the rail they laid £15,000 – £2000 Katate Dori, £28,000 – £4000 Myretown plus plenty of lesser lumps on various but the latter was the biggest loser on the rail for £27,000 over on the Tatts pitch the bogie was The Changing Man losing £19,000.

Punters that backed Myretown must have been thrilled by the scintillating performance he put up to win from the front. The rails team wouldn’t have been quite so chuffed, The Changing Man finishing runner up did it on the places for the Tatts pitch which lost small on the winner, a bad race but the winner was a well-backed 13/2 jolly after all.

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3:20 – Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle (Registered As The David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle) (Grade 1) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (4yo+) 2m4f (2m3f200y)

Next up and the little matter of Lossiemouth to deal with. One of the first bets was hedging money, £7500 at 2/1 the Lossiemouth and Constitution Hill double. Hedging money from the ring was a feature of the day, plenty of bookmakers appeared to be taking hefty cash bets so wanted cash to cash money in back bets as opposed to digital dough on the machine.

There was an extra buzz when Davy Russell came to the pitch for a bit, he was quite happy to chat to punters but didn’t fancy getting up on the joint to take any bets when Ben asked, who can blame him! Over on the rail they’d laid a £15,000 double too.

That was then dwarfed by a late £70,000 double Lossiemouth and Constitution Hill and they were off. ‘Ole Ole Ole!’ was the cry from the punters, they don’t do that when the jolly hasn’t won, Lossiemouth first, the rest nowhere.

Lumps done and plenty running on to Constitution Hill running in the feature, squeaky ring time for the bookmakers many of whom advertised pre-race multiples.

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4:00 – Unibet Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy (Grade 1) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (4YO plus) 2m ½f

So, here it was, the big one, the public had been robbed of a real clash so Constitution Hill was another odds-on chance opening 4/6. A punter came straight in with £12,000 at the price in addition to the multitude of multiples running up. Ben jumped up on the Tatts pitch and started to roar his ‘Let’s get gambling’ catchphrase. The punters didn’t need much persuading, that’s what they were here for. Over on the rail, bullish Lofty told me that £3000 and £4000 bets get lost in the ether.

Told you Cheltenham is a different beast, didn’t I? It was a similar story over on the Tatts pitch where they had got gambling. At the off nobody really knew where they were with doubles going on, but Constitution Hill was for plenty. Well, what a dramatic race, what can you say, fortune favoured the brave, I’m not talking about the bookmakers but Golden Ace’s connection.

They didn’t go for the easy option, they went for glory, fortune went their way and they bagged the big one 33/1 in the ring, 25/1 the SP for a famous win. Oh and the bookies were back in the game.

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4:40 – Hallgarten And Novum Wines Juvenile Handicap Hurdle (Registered As Fred Winter) (Premier Hcap) (4yo) 2m½f (2m87y)

The drama in the Champion Hurdle appeared to take the wind out of the sails of the punters. There were still some with bluster left in them though, bets included £100,000 – £30,000 Stencil, £24,000 – £2000 Total Look, £15,000 – £1500 Putyourhandstogether, £10,000 – £500 Quantock Hills and £7000 – £500 Liam Swagger. Over on the rail Lofty, Flynn and Ricky had laid £22,000 – £8000 Stencil and £30,000 – £4000 and £7000 – £1000 each-way Beyond Your Dreams. Putyourhandstogether winning at 17/2 was a decent result.

There was no time to lose, Ben was straight off to do some shopping.

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5:20 – Princess Royal National Hunt Challenge Cup Novices’ Handicap Chase (GBB Race) (Class 2) (5yo+ 0-145) 3m6f (3m5f201y)

So, to the lucky last, Ben had gone home with his shopping, business was slower but there were still a few bets about, just smaller. £15,000 – £5000 Transmission and £6500 – £1000 Now Is The Hour the biggest on the rail and £15,000 – £1150 the same horse on Tatts.

The race was an eventful one that went to Haiti Couleurs the 7/2 joint favourite which was surprisingly a smaller winner on both pitches. Both had won on the day, how much, your guess is as good as mine, I’m just glad I don’t have to tally the figures!

We’re back tomorrow.

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Tuesday’s Racing Post results from Cheltenham:

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Views of authors do not necessarily represent views of Star Sports Bookmakers.

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Simon Nott is author of: Skint Mob! Tales from the Betting Ring
available on Kindle CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS

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