2.10 Cheltenham, Friday, March 17

The County Hurdle, run over 2 miles 1 furlong on the New Course at Cheltenham, is usually subject to gambles a-plenty and this year’s renewal is unlikely to be any different. However, no favourite has won in the last 10 years and, with winners at 50/1, 25/1 and 20/1 three times in that period, the race is perfect for us, especially with ‘non-runner, no bet’ in operation with many leading bookmakers.

Vosne Romanee (33/1) earned himself a 13lb rise in the weights when winning at Perth in May, but showed improved form, leading on the bit at the last flight and drawing clear on the run-in to beat subsequent winner Curious Carlos by 6 lengths. The performance came on good to firm going, but Dr. Richard Newland’s 6-year-old has run well enough on good, good to soft and soft going to suggest he won’t be inconvenienced by slower underfoot conditions. The Arkan gelding takes a significant rise in class, but demonstrated his well-being by winning on the all-weather at Wolverhampton four weeks ago and is due to be ridden by Aidan Coleman, who’s 5-14 (36%) on the yard’s hurdlers in recent seasons.

Red Tornado (33/1) kept on strongly to win on his first attempt at Listed level at Market Rasen in May, but was well beaten, off an 8lb higher mark, over the same course and distance in September. He hasn’t run over hurdles since, but had a recent pipe-opener on the all-weather at Wolverhampton, has winning form on good to soft and soft going and has been dropped 2lb in the weights. It’s far too soon to be writing him off and he’s another who could go well at generous odds.

Selections: Vosne Romanee (33/1 with Betfair Sportsbook), Red Tornado (33/1 generally available)

Coral Cup, Wednesday, March 15

Some of the major bookmakers – including, at the time of writing, Bet365, William Hill, Betfred, 888Sport, RaceBets, Sky Bet and Paddy Power – are now betting ‘non-runner no bet’, or NRNB, for short, on all the races at the Cheltenham Festival. That’s good news for us, because it means that we can have a dabble at long odds in arguably the most competitive race of the week, safe in the knowledge that we’ll have a run for our money or, at worst, our money back.

The one we have in mind for the aforementioned ‘dabble’ is Charlie Mann’s progressive 6-year-old Air Force One. The son of Mountain High is currently rated 140, leaving him at number 50 in the current list of entries; the safety limit for the Coral Cup is 26, so he’ll need a fair few to drop out but, at 16/1 NRNB, he looks an attractive betting proposition.

He only had to be pushed out subsequent winner The Unit in a novices’ hurdle, over 2 miles 2 furlongs, at Taunton on his penultimate start and bettered that performance when staying on well to beat Divine Spear by 1½ lengths in a Class 2 handicap hurdle over a testing 2 miles 3½ furlongs at Ascot last month. That form bears close inspection and, while an 8lb rise in the weights makes life more difficult, he may be progressive enough to cope. Bookmakers are now starting to reveal their headline offers. 'My Betting Sites' have put together this comprehensive list of all the offers available. It's worth a look!

Selection: Cheltenham 2.50 Air Force One to win (16/1 with William Hill NRNB)

When punters win big!

I'm sure it's true of every punter that they have their own story of a big win or a near miss - 'the one that got away'! Over the years I've come good by cashing in on the occasional especially big odds outsider bet that I've had my eye on. It's a great feeling to think that you've spotted an opportunity that others have missed and your horse has galloped home to victory, or your team has scored that all important goal. A great many truly 'big wins' in betting come as a result of accumulator bets, often a series of horse racing selections, or perhaps a string of football match bets.



It seems to me that the most noteworthy win of the former (horse racing selections) is the infamous Frankie Dettori's Magnificent 7. For a bit of history, the bookmakers were left reeling when Frankie managed the staggering feat of winning on all seven of his rides in ascot on September 28th 1996. As unbelievable as that achievement was a few punters had faith in Frankie and were heavily awarded as a result. One lucky punter scooped a mind boggling £500,000 with his magnificent seven bet. On the less lucky side, some punters bet on all of the selections as singles. One, a cleaner, walked away with just £19 as a result of her seven 50p wins.

Franie Detorri Magnificent 7 rides:

Wall Street – 2/1
Diffident – 12/1
Mark of Esteem – 100/30
Decorated Hero – 7/1
Fatefully – 7/4
Lochangel – 5/4
Fujiyama Crest – 2/1

Of course sometimes, single bets can also result in huge wins too. That's good news since not everyone has the guts to go with multibets. In recent memory the biggest single bet win that entered the public consciousness must surely be Leicester winning the 2015-16 Premier League at crazy odds of 5000-1. At those odds you've think someone would've bagged a cool £100,000+, though it seems that even Leicester fans had extreme doubts at the start of the season, and who can blame them. The biggest winner, Leigh Herbert, of Enderby in Leicestershire, placed £5 on his team winning a tidy £25,000. Most loses by bookmakers actually fell at around the 100-150-1 range though, when punters started to think that the seemingly impossible might have a chance of happening.

7.30 Newcastle, Wednesday, March 1

The Betway Handicap (7.30) at Newcastle on Wednesday is a competitive, albeit fairly low grade, contest, in which it’s difficult to write off any of the 17 runners with any degree of confidence. As usual, we’ve highlighted a few we believe could belie generous starting prices.

The Hooded Claw returns from an absence of 107 days and hasn’t won since May 2014, during his first spell with Tim Easterby. However, the Dandy Man gelding has dropped down the weights and ran his best race for some time when dropped in 0-75 company for his Tapeta debut on this course in November. On that occasion he ran on to finish fourth, beaten two necks and a nose and, although no better off with the second, Dark Side Dream, may be capable of building on that effort.

Meshardal hasn’t been seen in public since September and is another who’s on a long losing run, but last won a 0-85 contest, off a mark of 85, in June 2015. Ruth Carr’s 7-year-old has troubled the judge just once in 17 starts since, but he’s ludicrously well handicapped on his best form, off a mark of 71, and the switch to Tapeta at this late stage might just rekindle his enthusiasm.

Nottinghamshire trainer Roy Bowring doesn’t have many horses, but his 6-year-old Exceed And Excel gelding Foolaad has run well on both starts over a mile on Tapeta, without really getting home, and may be ready for a return to the winners’ enclosure now that he drops back to 6 furlongs. John Egan, who’s 2-4 for the yard on the all-weather, takes over from 7lb claimer Kevin Lundie, which is another encouraging sign.

Selections: Newcastle 7.30 The Hooded Claw, Meshardal, Foolaad

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