Friday, March 13, 2026

Cheltenham Festival 2026 - the betting debrief

Shown below the recorded loss to level stakes (1 point win, 0.5 points each-way) of the blog's highlighted selections, returns calculated to the price taken when the wager was placed.

Outlay: 9 points

Return: 8.5 points

Profit / Loss: -0.5 points

Loss as a percentage of outlay: 5.55%

Jingko Blue (won, 10/1) and Bass Hunter (third, 10/1) provided some transient relief on Wednesday but the other seven selections - El Cairos, Golden Ace, Holokea, Western Fold, Impose Toi, Herakles Westwood and The Jukebox Man - were all soundly beaten. After the Gold Cup trainer Ben Pauling indicated The Jukebox Man had made a respiratory noise.

Gaelic Warrior was simply magnificent in the Gold Cup while Lossiemouth was similarly imperious in Tuesday's Champion Hurdle, landing a famous double for owner Mrs S. Ricci.

Willie Mullins was top trainer at the meeting for the eighth consecutive year (eight winners) and Paul Townend the top jockey for the fifth consecutive year (five winners). Ireland won the Prestbury Cup 15-13.

Once again shambolic starts plagued the meeting and, on the Thursday, both Willie Mullins and J P McManus indicated they were unhappy with the amount of watering that had taken place as favourite Fact Or File was withdrawn from the Ryanair Chase.

To my untrained eye, it looked like a Festival for layers rather than punters but, to finish on a more positive note, the overall attendance over the four days of 226,223 represents a 3.7% increase on last year's figure of 218,093.

Need anything from Tesco, PG? Of course I do - I've a list as long as your arm...

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