The Racing Horse has completed its first draft for the 2023 Cheltenham Festival where we look at 27 of the 28 races. Our aim is to provide only key information, including context and pertinence, ably assisted by common sense rationales, and all underpinned by relevant numbers. It is our genuine belief this package will facilitate a profit to the member or at the very least make them better informed on those things that really matter!

We readily accept mindsets have already been programmed and we know engrained dogma is hard to break down - but that is the task!

From now until the Festival start we will continue to beef up/streamline/edit wherever necessary to make it the best product possible for members, so on the night before/day of the race, we will all be ready to make those informed decisions. These decisions will be based on fact and mathematics - the governing force of horse racing betting.

2023 CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL (Home Page)

There are a number of issues to be wary of regarding the upcoming Festival, our advice is for the following:

• Totally ignore (if at all possible) the brouhaha and media noise - it has not been generated to help or profit a single individual, more to raise profiles and generate business for bookmakers and affiliates!
• Totally ignore punditry and find your own pathways. We have always believed better to make your own mistakes than those of others! Besides, those pundits with the loudest voices will have their own agenda which will not concern/include a profit and loss account for their nominations!
• Preview nights for the Festival and the accompanying bias lie somewhere between entertainment and circus! They largely consist of regurgitated commotion delivered by favoured sons.
• Do not invoke the hunch, due or luck factor. It is our belief the word luck has no part in betting whatsoever. We never use that word when winning or losing!
• Some serious bettors love trends, but some think they are largely nonsense. Both camps are right and wrong! For us, every number has an inherent value, but if it is not used in the correct context it becomes irrelevant/worthless - there lies the difference. It is our belief the numbers we quote are totally relevant, then best acknowledged and absorbed within the thought betting process. Also trends are best used to sort contenders from pretenders, not for bettors to find a stat that confirms their previous and personal bias.
• We no longer subscribe to the landscape of ante-post betting at Cheltenham. We know ahead of time just four or five trainers will dominate the Festival proceedings and produce the vast majority of the winners. Their plans will be revealed close to the Festival and not weeks prior.

The views expressed above are a touch general in nature and not intended to be flippant.

We accept perceived value, though difficult, can still be found in ante-post betting. We accept the Irish horses will not win every handicap, we accept an English trainer other than Nicky Henderson or Paul Nicholls will win a race or two. Whilst we accept the results of the Festival are not preordained, the die has been cast. It is our seriously held belief, despite media claims the English runners look stronger this year, Irish trainers Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott and Henry De Bromhead will dominate proceedings therefore decimating English hopes - BANK ON IT! We will...

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