Paddy Power have increased Festival Fever around the country by today making their Cheltenham Festival betting Non Runner No Bet. This means if you back a horse that ends up not taking its chance in the race you backed it, you will receive your stake back. This is not the case when betting at ante post rules.

Paddy Power are a great bookie for Cheltenham punters. Last year they refunded a number of second places when the favourite won and this year they have a number of interesting specials available. Betting is open the the official ground on the first day of the Festival with good to soft as favourite at 4/7 and you can also bet on the number of Irish winners at the Festival with up to and including 3 winners the current favourite at 9/2.

For information on free bets at Paddy Power and other bookmakers click here – Free Bets

A horse racing game where the aim is to stop Kauto Star from winning the Gold Cup has been all the rage on internet forums and in offices around the country as people latch on to Cheltenham Festival fever.

The game, found at stopkauto.com sees you trying to take out Kauto Star by any means possible which includes shooting him in the neck and exploding a bomb underneath him. Whilst many horse racing fans have embraced the game some have taken it a bit more seriously and have complained about its content.

Even the Daily Mirror have reported on the popular game and their thoughts can be found here:

Daily Mirror – Stop Kauto

What is your best score on Stop Kauto? Let us know.

Channel Four Racing’s Tommo has collaborated with three professional horse racing tipsters to bring you the first Cheltenham-Betting.co.uk horse racing tips podcast.

The podcast can be found here – Cheltenham Festival Podcast

The podcast contains the guests’ opinions and tips for the four main Champion races as well as their best bets and biggest lays of the 2008 Cheltenham Festival which is just weeks away.

Subscribe to the podcast to receive all future podcast productions. There will be an update released on the site on Friday 7th of March, the Friday before the Festival and more tips will be given based on the ground conditions that are expected and the likely runners.

What is the best bet of the Festival? Let us know your opinions.

By the time the Festival comes round plenty of people are holding juicy looking vouchers about horses that are now much shorter prices than they were months ago. Others are cursing themselves for backing ante post as they have already done their dough with their backed horses being ruled out of their originally designated races.

With just a month to go to the Cheltenham Festival should you be looking to lay your money down now or should you wait for the day?

There is not much point in betting now unless your fancy is running in the next week and is likely to fall in price as a result of that run. In the next week or two bookmakers will start going NRNB (Non Runner No Bet) about the Cheltenham Festival and at that stage you don’t have to worry about backing a non runner as you will get your money back if it doesn’t make its intended target.

That’s all well and good but we still can’t be sure how the ground will ride during the Festival and at this stage it is worth keeping your money safe until the evening before the race. This is when the so called ‘day of race’ market will be available and  you can normally get your bets on with the minimum of fuss knowing who is running and on what ground.

You can of course wait until the day of the race but there is nothing worse than opening the Racing Post and seeing Pricewise has tipped up your main fancy and you can either only get £10 on at the advertised price or that price is long gone.

When do you think is the best time to get your Festival bets on? Let us know and we can make it as profitable as possible.

Everyone knows Cheltenham drains very well and it is often the case that the Cheltenham Festival ground is on the firm side come March. Only a week before the Festival last year the ground contained heavy patches yet by Gold Cup day the ground was back on the firm side.

The last time the ground was officially heavy was almost 20 years ago (1989) so it seems for the near future mudlarks need not apply when it comes to the Festival. If you are backing a soft ground horse for the Festival then now is the time to start your rain dance.

After one of the wettest summers ever we have had one of the driest winters and it is going to take plenty of rain in the coming weeks to have anything softer than good to soft ground.

Where does that leave the punters? If the ground is genuinely good then it is time to back the speedier horses and the flat bred horses, who are used to firmer ground. If you are backing a soft ground horse for the Gold Cup then it is going to need to pour down the night before Gold Cup day and even that might not be enough.

So, the moral of the story, assume the ground will be good to soft at absolute worse and if the rain doesn’t come expect the softer ground horses to be very much outpaced.

In many other time periods Exotic Dancer would have been absolutely prolific mopping up many of the top races including the King George and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Exotic Dancer has faced Kauto Star four times with the following consequences:

Dec 06 Kempton – beaten 8 lengths
Mar 07 Cheltenham – beaten 2.5 lengths
Nov 07 Haydock – beaten 0.5 lengths
Dec 07 Kempton – beaten 12.5 lengths

From Exotic Dancer’s form it is clear to see Kempton isn’t his track, however he had been getting closer to Kauto Star with each run until December’s King George, in which new riding tactics were tested. Cheltenham and soft ground both suit Exotic Dancerwell as theyget the best out of his stamina and running style.

At this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup I would rate Exotic Dancer a much better bet at the odds if the ground came up soft. As that would also suit Denman it might mean Kauto Star is now struggling to place. Unfortunately for Exotic Dancer backers the ground is normally firmer towards the end of the Festival and he would need a downpour on the day of the Gold Cup.

Judging by the way Exotic Dancer stayed on in the Betfair Chase at Haydock, I would also rate him a better bet in next year’s renewal, should both take their chance again.

What do you think? Will Exotic Dancer ever beat Kauto Star? Share your thoughts.