SIMON NOTT BETTING BLOG: Cheltenham Festival Friday

Well here we are, it’s the big one, the rest of the week has been just a warm-up for the biggest day’s racing of the jump season, writes SIMON NOTT.

While we’ve been having an amazing week not letting the elements bother us, betting ring manager Vicki has been in Benidorm, the much vaunted alternative destination to the Cotswolds. Here’s her latest report, where we find the lady!

‘The rain in Spain falls mainly on Benidorm! After an entertaining 10 minutes watching the Spanish version of find the lady involving hollowed out potatoes we decided to dodge the hilarious fancy dress and mobility scooters and found a quiet bar showing ITV racing with sangria on tap.

‘A much more civilised afternoon followed with a lovely tapas lunch just lacking the sun I was promised. Back for Kempton tomorrow, Benidorm has had its moments but it’s not for me! Looks like you guys have had a great week. See you soon. Don’t wish you were here 🤣’

Before betting really got underway properly bookmaker Paul Gold came to the joint. His daughter, Francesca, is running the London Marathon on April 27th 2025 as part of the Sue Ryder team, in memory of her Gran, Auntie and Uncle. If you have won a few quid this week or done your cobblers and want to try and change your luck, dropping some in via the link would be most appreciated: https://www.justgiving.com/page/francesca-gold-london-marathon-2025 

There was early action on both pitches, but before that, teams unchanged apart from Paul Kirkby head of retail in place of Nick who’d been rerouted to sunny Donny. It was Paul’s first time working at the sharp end and was looking forward to seeing the whites of the punter’s eyes.

The one the punters and hedging bookies wanted was Hello Neighbour, bets included £22,000 – £4000, £27,500 – £5000 each-way and £10,000 – £1800. Other bets included £5000 and £2000 East India Dock at 13/8 and a monkey each-way Mondo Man at 25/1. East India Dock was collapsing on the machine so in the ring too but punters weren’t getting stuck in with Star to any lumps. Lofty did say they couldn’t stop laying it on the rails, but to modest money.

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1:20 – JCB Triumph Hurdle (Grade 1) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (4yo)2m1f (2m179y)

Well, what can you say, was Norton’s Coin the last 100/1 winner at the Festival? If so, Poniros became the second finishing with rapid late headway to win for Willie Mullins and owner Tony Bloom returning 100/1.

Given the connections, you have to assume the result was as big a pleasant surprise to them as it was the betting ring. The rails copped £28,000 and Tatts £13,000, a colossal start to the day for the bookmakers.

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2:00 – William Hill County Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (5yo+)2m1f (2m179y)

Next up the County Hurdle, a race that, if I’m not mistaken, used to be the impossible getting out stakes last race of the Festival when it was three days. It still looked hard today but with 16 runners dead was a good race for punters to get stuck into.

Kargese opened the 3/1 favourite which was popular, in fact the teams were laying a lot of horses. Ideally they’d get another shock winner, not being greedy but the queue for the payouts would be horrendous should the short ones fill the places.

So much for that hope, Kargese won the race at 3/1, the Tatts pitch had fielded just over £8000 with a bet of £5500 – £1000 each-way, the unplaced Lark In The Morning the biggest in the book only blowing £960. The rails had taken a similar amount, including £14,000 – £1000 Pinot Gris and £12,500 – £500 each-way Ndaawi which finished second so did £5000.

Not long after that Ben shook my hand and made his exit, it had been a long week.

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2:40 – Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase (Registered As The Liberthine Mares’ Chase) (Grade 2) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (5yo+)2m4½f (2m4f127y)

One feature of today was the amount of young people betting, people in their 20s getting involved betting in cash with the bookies. One thing I forgot to mention yesterday was that the Tatts card machine only took £630 on bets, yesterday the rest was readies, the racecourse are missing a trick not taking cash and letting people celebrate their winnings.

Next up and a short one in Dinoblue, Tatts laid £2000 at 13/8 to the trade early. That was followed by public money, £1500, £3000 and £4000 at 6/4. Over on the rail it was busy but small, the biggest bet of the early skirmishes Lofty reported was £5000 – £1000 Limerick Lace. Business remained steady but small thereafter.

At the off, Tatts had the jolly losing £18,600. The chants on ‘Dino, Dino, Dino’ from the massive crowd told the story. The jolly first the rest nowhere and a big reversal for the Tatts pitch, £18,000 in the red in the race and now £6000 down on the day. Things were looking better in the rail, they blew just £700 on the race and were still £20,000 in front.

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3:20 – Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1) (Registered As The Spa Novices’ Hurdle) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (5yo+) 3m (2m7f213y)

Next up and they bet 9/2 the field, the punters had the bookies’ blood in their nostrils, not piling in to bet but to get paid out. Tames lions this game and judging by the silence from some of the previously buoyant bookies some had been grabbed by the mane. Not long after betting opened a punter came into the joint and bet £16,000 – £30,000 Galopin Des Champs in the Gold Cup which dwarfed the £800 – £1500 previously laid.

Back to the Albert Bartlett, and bets that the firm didn’t expect, £110,000 – £20,000 Jasmin De Vaux and £70,000 – £10,000 and £65,000 – £10,000 Jet Blue laid in Tatts. Just four races from a famous winning Cheltenham, and the Star on-course team’s hearts were broken, Jasmin De Vaux absolutely bolted up, the book lost £87,000. Nasty, nasty, very very nasty. To rub salt into the wounds, the winner returned 6/1.

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4:00 – Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase (Grade 1) (GBB Race) (Class 1) (5yo+) 3m2½f (3m2f70y)

Next up the Gold Cup, the firm had already laid £30,000 the jolly which was then topped up by £50,000 at bottle-on. Over on the rail, Lofty was tapping ‘plenty of monkey and grand bets’ into the computer. Popular with the punters on the rail was Banbridge, which with five minutes to go was the bogie over there. At the off, the Tatts pitch had the favourite losing £44,000 the rail just £670.

The roar that went up when Galopin Des Champs cruised into contention was something to hear, but it was stifled when Inothewayurthinkin suddenly found gears and in strides had the jolly in trouble quickening away to win landed a famous victory and got the losses from the previous race back with a bit of interest. Tatts copped £95,000 and the rail £11,477.

Over at Fakenham, where Star were betting today also copped £17,000 on the race. The Tatts pitch were now £1400 up on day, after navigating a very hairy route to that figure.

Kaan celebrated by munching on a Panda, is that a criminal offence? I’m told not!

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4:40 – St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase (Class 2) (5yo+)3m2½f (3m2f70y)

Next up and the race where the country comes to town, the Hunter Chase. They bet 3/1 the 24 runner field. Bets and business was slower than the Gold Cup as you’d expect, but the respite was a relief for the teams.

Over the on the rails Flynn, Lofty and Ricky had laid £9000 – £1000 each-way Ryehill in a £9000 book. The Tatts pitch held half that with Shearer the worst for £1824.

Wonderwall won the race at 28/1, the Tatts book copped £800 and the rails £3000, the winner was apparently popular small staking Oasis fans, the racecourse even dug the record out. Going into the last the rail was winning £38,500 and Tatts £2200.

Was it too early to celebrate a winning Cheltenham?

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5:20 – Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (GBB Race) (Class 2) (4yo+ 0-145)2m4½f (2m4f56y)

The lucky last featured a short one for this type of race with Kopeck De Mee a 9/4 shot in this 26 runner conditional jockey’s handicap. We thought the punters might thin out a bit but there was plenty of interest but it was all small until right in the hole a punter bet £25,000 Kopeck De Mee at 9/4 which had it losing £52,359 in the book at the off. That’s what you call in it. Well, Kopeck De Mee ran well for a while but was beaten a long way out, with just the one loser the team could relax, Wodhooh winning at 13/2 copped £23,525 in the win book making it a £26,500 winning day for Tatts.

What a ride.

Over on the rails, that copped £2000 and won £40,000 on the day. That all added up, eventually to a cracking winning festival for the Star Sports team on course. It’s been a magnificent festival, not because the firm won, though that’s welcome of course, but the roar of the crowd, the buzz of the ring, the bets, the bookies hedging and the buzz, did I mention the buzz? I thought the sort of betting ring we enjoyed this week was consigned to my memory, but no, it’s thriving. Come racing.

I’m going racing again tomorrow, Kempton Park with Star Sports, where I’ll be writing a blog, maybe not like today’s!

Thanks for reading this week. I hope some of you got a few quid.

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Friday’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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