The odds which you are able to obtain on each of your Cheltenham bets could mean the difference between winning and losing. Where is the best place to find your value for the Cheltenham Festival? Bookmakers, Tote, Betfair or www.valuechecker.co.uk?

Come race day, for those that have not already committed themselves fully financially on the Ante Post markets, punters across the land will be looking to pace bets and find the best value they can for their bets. These days we have a myriad of options for both on course and stay at home punters.

The first port of call should be an odds comparison site such as www.valuechecker.co.uk where you can see all the biggest bookmakers prices in a line to find which is offering the best price on your selection. Then we have the choice of going to bookies, backing online with a firm, or playing on the exchanges which often offer better odds. (Don’t forget to factor in the commission here). Then if you are on course there is the choice of the Rails Bookmakers or the Tote windows.

This is all well and good for taking a price, but those odds can move before the race is off and the Sp’s can change come off time. So, we take a quick look at some examples from last years results to find where the best Sp prices were to be found.

In the main there was little gain in taking morning odds against eventual Sp. Notable exceptions would be A new Story in the Cross Country who could have been had at 40/1 in the am, only to return at 25′s. Sanctuaire was gambled from 13/2 into 4/1 favouritism and two further winners were available at 50/1 morning odds only to return 33/1 (Berties Dream) and 16/1 Pigeon Island which was some gamble. All in all there were 9 that returned shorter odds than their morning prices that were better than SP, Tote Sp or Betfair Sp.

Betfair Sp returned 13 of the winners better than any available price on the day including a whopping 84.55 on the Bumper winner Cue Card. That returned 40/1 on industry and at 60.6/1 on the Tote.

The Tote paid the biggest on four winners, Chief Dan George (51.7/1), Spirit River (18.3/1), Great Endeavour (30.3/1) and marginally on Pause and Clause (20.3/1).

Industry Sp did not return a single winner better than any price available on the day

All in all, it seems we can take a morning price, but need to anticipate the contractions if doing so.

If betting at home, check www.valuechecker.co.uk before placing bets if taking a price, otherwise, Betfair Sp performed admirably. If you dont have a Betfair account, click here to open one and claim a £25 free bet.

If on course, the Tote and industry Sp differed very little across the whole meeting, so have some fun trying to find the best price you can in the melee that is the busiest betting ring of them all.

Which is your favourite way of betting for the best returns?