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Cheltenham Festival 2010

Is horse racing a sport? Sure, the jockey’s work is certainly difficult but all the awards, records and history-makers are all equine. And while no one calls greyhound racing a “sport,” the jury for some reason is still out on horse racing.

No matter, for this semiotically uncertain prologue is mere preamble to a discussion of one of the more unique events in horse racing: The Cheltenham Festival, the starting gun of which goes off today, is seven days of solid racing (and betting) action; our friends over at Bet 365 online bookmakers have appropriate measures in place to ensure punters’ fun and satisfaction throughout.

In addition to constantly updating odds, lines and prices throughout the week while also offering live betting, Bet 365 is advancing the proverbial irresistible offer: At this casino, customers will receive a guaranteed best price or joint best price, based on matching the most generous offer from rival bookmaking sites Betfred, BoyleSports, Coral, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power, Totesport, and William Hill – why shop around when Bet365’ll be posting all the longest odds?

Not enough for ya? Fine. Check out the “Bet365 Channel 4/1 Free Bet Offer”: Simply win on odds greater than 4/1 in a Channel 4-televised race and take a 100% free bet of equal wager on the following live Channel 4 race. Win the free bet on a 4/1-or-better winner and take *another* free bet. And so on and so on, hopefully. And just in case you think backing longshots is implausible, remember that the first day’s two heavily-backed favorites lost. In the very first race, 4/5 favorite Dunguib finished in a disappointing third, thereby leading The Guardian to proclaim that “Bookmakers drew first blood in the annual battle with punters at the Festival here as the supposed wonder horse from Ireland, Dunguib, was put in his place behind Menorah and Get Me Out Of Here in the Supreme Novice Hurdle.”

Chasing this odd result was the Arkle Challenge Trophy Steeple Chase, which had 6/1 Sizing Europe take out Captain Cee Bee, the favorite at 3/1. Call it Bookies 2, Punters 0 as of this writing…

As for the week’s remainder, experts are overwhelmingly convinced favorites will win in the next four days, thereby ensuring the bookmakers will take a beating. (Good news for us punters, bad news for them, eh?)

Finally, you can also watch every race from the Festival via online stream at the Bet365 homepage. Just make a qualifying wager of just £1 win or £0.50 across the board, click on the “In-Play” button near the top of the homepage and select your race.

Feature races within the Cheltenham Festival include the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday, the Queen Mother Champion Chase on Wednesday, the World Hurdle on Thursday, and the Gold Cup on Friday. To whet your appetite, here’s Zaynar taking the triumph hurdle event last year. Good luck, everyone!