Cheltenham reflections
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Reasonable returns in the end, like a few on here seems last race was the saviour. Was running at £80 down for the day till the last then hit 1st, 2nd & 3rd for a big win. Was pretty much the lowest possible return from first race, failed to lay a place which hit a massive drift then had to take a sizeable QL when Hills decided they’d start not actually applying the boost despite it being ticked
All done with minimal freebets, generally each way betting….. and very limited accounts to work with but found a couple new routes to get cash on. Although felt like hard work.
Not really sure what went on here, had the feel there weren’t as many freebets around from emails/banners I saw. Seemed to be more enhanced winnings. Hills doing 8 boosts a day was nice, although easing their restrictions was nicer
Had a good day at the festival on the Tues. I usually feel the need to bet every race, and look for a bit of value. Having various other bets on meant I missed out a couple of on course bets where the value wasn’t there, and could put a larger bet on Bevue D’air knowing I had Elgin/Melon covered for decent eway returns. Ended up with 3 winners from 5!
I meant to look out if there was each way value on the course, but to be honest was too busy having a normal drinking/betting day out.+0March 16, 2018 at 8:23 pm
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Offers were much better than last year. Really dont see how certain bookies can run a profit with the value they throw away – is it just about growing market share and hoping we play blackjack?
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Much better than last year although I would argue fewer offers. The bonus builders were good even though I punted all the resulting bets and made way less than I would have laying them.
Hills boosts on every race werent that profitable until Days 3 and 4, the first couple of days their odds were horrendous. At least they offered up the double winnings offer on the Supreme Novices which, lucky for me, came in.
Best bookie personally was Bet365 by a country mile with their 1/4 place odds on 3,4 and 5 places making me tons.
Plenty of bookies could win worst bookie of the festival. Betbright and Betstars going AWOL was a surprise and the likes of 10bet, Netbet etc offered nothing much either. However, Betfred get the prize for me. Their 10.30am and 12pm boosts were completely worthless often still falling short of exchange prices and their £10 money back 2nd to SP fav was a joke in itself but also often on the big handicap races. I laughed when they sent me an email saying if I placed TWO £10 in-play bets on the Champions League, I would get a £5 free bet for Cheltenham. Shameful.
I have to say my expectations were smashed, I thought it would be a damp squib after last year but I passed 2017 profit on Day 2 and if a couple of my free bets that finished second had won, I may have even surpassed 2016 total.
A well earned break for me, got a few bets on already for the big one tomorrow but after that I’ll be stepping back for 2-3 days.
+0First day was the best for me, and grinded out reasonable profits for the rest of the festival.
Made two terrible errors in double laying a free bet (that won) and then laying something I hadn’t even backed (which won as well).
Didn’t hit a single extra place bud did land a few BOG boosts and EW bets to make it worthwhile.
Hills was a pain for me on mobile, horse racing markets wouldn’t load so missed a few bets on there.
Agree with Chris, best account by far is 365, just a shame I lost two of my 365 accounts about two weeks before the festival! Made a big difference to my overall profit…
+0Much better than last year, but not as good as 2016. Messed up by laying too much on God’s own, so instead of celebrating a place arb it cost me about £120.
Didn’t hit a sportnation 2nd or 3rd all week, and decided to put my dabble free bets for zero return (Sam Spinner was my festival nap…). 0% across smarkets and Betfair made it much easier getting matches with 0 QL so that helped.
On a sad note had North Hill Harvey in the last, but overall there were fewer bad falls than previous years.
Taking a break now.
+0Ladbrokes biggest winner for me. Once you get the hang of their boosts it’s a goldmine in the big handicaps with extra places or EW arbing (12->14, 17->20, 23->27,26->31).
Missed not having 365 and Paddy. Sky ok for first race and extra places but a struggle to get a decent match, Coral for the Coral Cup only, WH for high5 on the bankers, Dabble & Unibet and Sportnation OK for small bits and everything else a waste of time.
The other most noticeable thing for me is how the Irish runners are targeted for this. Form goes out the window, potential is everything.
Maybe next year will take the week off and enjoy the racing a bit more.
+0Agree about the Irish point. Take Penhill: ran once at Punchestown since last Cheltenham, just aimed for this. Compare with Our Duke who’s had a sack full of firsts but who didn’t show at all today. Form does indeed go out the window with the Irish horses.
Still my favourite week of the year.
+0Had a good week. Mainly ew value, extra places. Some bits and bobs at lesser firms. Was lucky enough to have some access to a 365 account, with a free £50 a day plus some ew bets night before. But without full control of it couldn’t maximise it as much as i would have liked!
Did pretty good at paddys too, despite restricted account could still win enough to make them handy, they had some good overnight prices.
I ran well too which always helps and makes all the effort worthwhile.The forum been decent this week, enjoyed the daily threads. On the whole everyone seems to have made plenty.
Feel pretty drained now but tomorrow looks good so a breather will have to wait a day!
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Good first day, ok second, and fantastic third day. Today turned out to just ok. Better for me than last year all told. it did stress upon me though that you need to plan ahead and have a big bank for Cheltenham. I always sod that up. Despite making loads the first time I did it in 2016, I seem to always forget.
Bet365 were the winners for me. Actually got refunded from the 4/1 offer on a free bet! Must have been a screwup, but all adding to the profits.
I think every single WH boost lost, which was shit for the underlayers.
Betfred disappeared, but had a couple of good boosts here and there. I didn’t mind their combined Champs and Cheltenham offer. Thanks to an arb and their dodgy in play odds I made a nice bit off that.
+0Had a really good week and a bit of luck along the way. Was on 0% at Betfair this week so could try risk free money back offers and a few came in plus used by WH boost on a couple of big winners and got a big High5 bonus. Also got some rule 4 deductions in my favour too. I normally stick to freebet offers and price boosts but dabbled with EW arbs this week at small stakes, need to get into this as while I’m making a good amount each month it’s taking more effort and requires doing lots of low return offers.
Only punted the sport nation freebets and won 5 of those, took the guaranteed profit from the others but would have been better letting them run as managed to pick a few winners which drained my exchange balance.
Hills continues to be my most profitable account by far but Genting’s money back offer on day one was great as my first two bets with them won and it was money back on your first losing bet – they also gave away free spins on their dream catcher which got me another £40 for 30 seconds work.
Betfred for a big name was shocking this week, Sky’s money back offer in the first is still good but I don’t really like faller insurance offers at Coral etc. always feel a bit uncomfortable in that I’m hoping a horse falls on those ones.
Day off today and then back to normal next week, though I’d be interested to see if all my accounts have come through unscathed…
+0Good festival – Had a set of accounts lined up but didn’t have the big 3 bookies sky, 365, and pp as the person I used is barred from 2 and wants to keep the other one which is fair enough. Didn’t have access to Ladbrokes and WH for some reason but still managed to clear a bigger profit than last year. Had I of had access to the big bookies then it would and could have been immense!
A mate of mine was doing it as a “novice” just done sign ups a month ago and he struggled to see how there was any value in the festival and he was making around £50 a day from the betway, sky and any other offers there were. For basic offers it was really really poor. For advanced matched bettors it was a case of shopping around the extra places and the 1/4 odds bookies for when there was an odds on favourite and lumping on big when given the chance.
My top 5 ranking of bookies for the week from what I saw offered and observed goes as follows.
1) bet 365
2) Sky
3) Paddy Power
4) Betway
5) Will HillMy worst 3 bookies who I think are pretty big but offered near on nothing are.
1) Betfred
2) Betstars
3) 10betGoing forward for next year and the big festivals going ahead I feel that strong accounts in the top set are vital and a big bankroll also helps. Was playing off 20k and even then at times it felt like it was not enough.
Anyway well done all and lets go again for the national.
+0used a freebie from Cheltenham last night and scored for a bit of first past the post, nice way to finish
+0Betway in top 5 bookies, nice joke 🙂
+0One thing I learnt was not to lay £25 on the wrong horse @ 15.0 and yes, you guessed it, the horse won. Thank You Very Much was the name of the horse ironically. Wiped out my entire Tuesday profits. Nobody died though.
+0Main reflection: don’t be hungover and rush your lays on your mobile in the morning
I’d layed the wrong horse, which must’ve had the same lay odds at the time. Didn’t realise until hours later, but luckily before the race. Even luckier, the odds hadn’t drifted, so no harm done.
But sods law: the horse I had initially missed the lay on went on to win the race, and the horse I had actually layed was no where to be seen. So would’ve been almost 2 grand up if I hadn’t noticed my initial mistake. Always the way!
+0First 2 days solid, third day ok last day pretty pants. Still met my £500 target with barely any arbing – I was unaware that Betfair offered the TBP market which I will be ready for on the next festival.
Most of my profit was from the amount of Free Bets and money back offers that were on offer (3 accounts of most bookie) and a few extra place offers. Only hit 1 high5 on Laurina, didn’t hit any 4/1 offers either 🙁 had 15 horses covered in one race with free bets all underlayed… none of them won.
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