Cheltenham Betting

The Cheltenham Festival is the crown jewel on the National Hunt racing calendar, where the world’s fastest horses descend on the Gloucestershire countryside for four days of heart-stopping jump racing.

Over the course of the festival, 28 races take place, with seven races scheduled each day.

Here at Paddy Power, you’ll find extensive Cheltenham betting markets covering every race at this year’s festival which runs from Tuesday to Friday. Whether you’re backing the favourite or taking a chance on a long shot, we’ve got the latest Cheltenham odds to help you back your hunch.

Cheltenham Odds

The Cheltenham Festival odds here at Paddy Power represent the chances of each horse in a particular race, whether that’s winning, placing, or in the each-way markets. We offer Cheltenham odds for all 28 of the Festival’s races, both ante-post (ahead of the official declarations) and traditional odds once the official race card has been confirmed.

For each race, you will see the list of horses in contention. The favourite is at the top, followed by the next best and then continuing down to the outsiders at the bottom. The fractions next to each horse’s name are their Cheltenham Festival odds, which you can add to your betslip with a simple click or tap of your screen.

Keep in mind that lower odds mean a higher probability of winning, while higher odds indicate a less likely outcome but with a greater potential return.

Cheltenham Festival Race Cards

The Cheltenham Festival racecards here at Paddy Power are your essential guide to everything you need to know about a particular day’s National Hunt racing in Gloucestershire. Reading them will provide you with Cheltenham 2026 odds, form, details on each horse’s performance, the names of competing jockeys and trainers, as well as the horse’s weight, age, and breeding, plus the Nap of the Day to help guide your bets.

You’ll also find crucial information about the race’s distance and the going, which is otherwise referred to as the track condition at Cheltenham Racecourse. If you look at the Cheltenham racecards today, you will see the colours that the jockeys will be wearing in a certain race, which helps you easily identify the horse you are backing.

Day One: The Champion Hurdle

The Champion Hurdle is a Grade 1 race and is the main event on day one of the Cheltenham Festival. It is run over a distance of 2 miles and 87 yards (3,318 meters) and features eight hurdles along the way.

It’s a day that the best of the Cheltenham festival horses over fences get to strut their stuff, and it’s a fantastic way for the Cheltenham 2026 betting to get up and running.

Day Two: The Queen Mother Champion Chase

The Queen Mother Champion Chase is a Grade 1 race and is the feature event on day two of the Cheltenham Festival. It is held over a distance of 2 miles (3,218 meters) and features 13 fences along the way.

Day Three: The Stayers’ Hurdle

There’s no let-up on day three, with the high-quality Turners Novices’ Chase and Ryanair Chase amongst the most-anticipated odds on offer.

But the Stayers’ Hurdle is the day’s most important event. The Stayers’ Hurdle is a Grade 1 race and is the highlight of day three of the Cheltenham Festival. It is run over a distance of 3 miles (4,828 meters) and features 12 hurdles along the way.

Day Four: The Gold Cup

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 race and the most prestigious feature event on day four of the Cheltenham Festival, as well as the marquee race of the entire festival. It is run over a distance of 3 miles 2½ furlongs (5,331 meters) and features 22 fences along the way.

Here at Paddy Power, you can already find our Cheltenham Gold Cup odds for the ante-post market. As race day nears, you’ll be able to track all of the price movements right up until one of the greatest racehorses on the planet gets underway.

What are the best Cheltenham Betting Markets?

Here at Paddy Power, we offer the three most popular betting markets: win only, each way, and ante-post. But we dig a little deeper too with options suited to each race, which ensures that you can bet on Cheltenham 2026 exactly as you want to.

If you're not sure which bet to pick, check out our Bet Calculator! It does all the heavy lifting by providing an instant display of your potential profits.

You can combine multiple selections on one Cheltenham bet: doubles, trebles, accas, and cover bets such as Lucky 15 and Heinz. Where there’s a strong favourite in a race, but you want to avoid them, you can try our ‘betting without’ market, which pays out on the best of the rest. If you want to take a deeper dive into a specific race, you can try forecasts and tricasts – correctly predict the 1-2 or 1-2-3 in a Cheltenham renewal to potentially lengthen your winning odds.

Another market to look out for at the Cheltenham Festival is the ‘special bets’ offering. Here, you will typically be able to bet on who the top jockey or top trainer at Cheltenham might be for the week.

Cheltenham Ante-Post Betting

Ante-post betting allows you to place bets on Cheltenham Festival races well in advance of the runners and riders being confirmed.

Indeed, ante-post means ‘before the post,’ and while the odds will be higher due to the increased risk of an unconfirmed field, any non-runners caused by injury or changes in the race lineup will result in your bet being considered a loss.

How to bet on Cheltenham Races?

It could not be easier to place your Cheltenham bets with us – once your account is live and you’ve made a deposit (don’t forget to claim your welcome bonus!), you’ll be good to go.

Simply scan through the markets on the Paddy Power website until you find the race/horse you want to bet on. Then click the odds of that selection to add them to your bet slip. If you want to place an accumulator, keep adding odds to your slip and when ready, you’ll see your slip on the right-hand side of the screen.

To place the horse racing bet, enter your stake in the box and tap the Place Bet button. Now all that’s left to do is cheer your picks home.

Where can I find Cheltenham betting tips?

You can find the latest Cheltenham betting tips on the Paddy Power News Blog which we always advise you to read before placing any bet on Cheltenham 2026.

In addition to the latest tips for the festival in Gloucestershire, you can also find expert insights into horse racing throughout the year.