A Guide to the 2022 Cheltenham Festival

Over in the UK, the Cheltenham Festival is the first truly prestigious National Hunt meeting of the calendar year. It’s also one of those rare occasions where casual punters join the serious betting community to make it a busy week for the sportsbooks.

Cheltenham is also hugely popular in Ireland, partly because the meeting will invariably cross over St Patrick’s Day. All over the world, the festival is highly anticipated but what does it have in store for 2022?

Dates for Your Diary

In 2022, the Cheltenham Festival will begin on Tuesday March 15th. Four packed days of jump racing will follow until the event closes on Friday March 18th. 12 months ago, the festival was run in near silence due to local restrictions. The racegoers make this meeting what it is so it will be great to welcome back a noisy crowd this year.

Those who can’t attend should be able to find live TV coverage of every race across the four days. Live streaming through official channels should also provide broadcast services for each run. The countdown is on but what races are we most looking forward to?

The Showpiece Event

The highlight of the festival is the Cheltenham Gold Cup which is traditionally run on the Friday of the meeting. First held back in 1924, this is a grueling test of endurance at a distance in excess of three miles and it’s the busiest race of all as far as the bookmakers are concerned.

There is added interest this year as Al Boum Photo, winner in 2019 and 2020, is looking to join an elite group of horses who have completed a Gold Cup hat trick. Meanwhile, the stable behind last year’s winner Minella Indo are going for a double of their own.

According to horse racing betting sites linked in with Asiabet, the favourite for 2022’s Cheltenham Gold Cup is A Plus Tard. Close behind is Galvin while Minella Indo is a relatively distant third favourite.

Protektorat is next and then we come to Al Boum Photo who is lining up that historic treble. As the festival draws closer, Asiabet will report on any updates to those markets as they come in. Anyone who lands on the site can also keep up with the Cheltenham Festival via news articles and opinion pieces that are published here.

It’s also possible to bet on the Gold Cup and any other listed race. Each of the bookmakers that are mentioned here are set up to accept new customers and many will have generous welcome packages in place. 

Moving forward with the account, there may be ongoing offers on the table for existing customers. A choice of deposit methods helps to get things started while some sportsbooks can even provide that live streaming access that will keep viewers in touch with top class horse racing.

In short, it’s a very useful site for anyone interested in the Cheltenham Festival but what else is on the schedules besides the Gold Cup?

Best of the Rest

There is a high density of Group One renewals across all four cards of the festival and the action begins on Tuesday. In fact, the first two races of the entire Festival are both group ones as the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the Arkle Challenge Trophy take centre stage.

There are seven races in total with the Champion Hurdle and the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle adding to the list of group ones.

Wednesday takes over with another set of seven races. The highlights here are the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the Novices’ Hurdle and the Champion Bumper.

On Thursday, another seven races on the card showcase three Group Ones starting with the Golden Miller Novice’s Chase. Following on are the Festival Trophy and the Stayers Hurdle.

On Friday, the Gold Cup provides a thrilling climax as it heads up another seven-race card. The additional group one renewals on the final day of the Festival are the Triumph Hurdle and the Spa Novices’ Hurdle.

It’s a great four days of racing and, for sports fans in the UK, it’s also the gateway to a great summer of sport. The countdown to the 2022 Cheltenham Festival is on.

Category: International