150/1 Community Cheltenham Request A Bet Blog

Over the last few days we have been asking on our social channels for you, our followers, to pick between 16 horses set to run at the Cheltenham festival and the four with the most votes have gone into our request a bet.

We gave you four different races at the four day meeting and for each race we gave you four options and which ever horse was the most voted on out of the different contests, that is the one that would go into the RAB.

The four races that were offered the Arkle and the Champion Hurdle on the first day, the Stayers Hurdle on the Thursday and the feature of the festival the Gold Cup.

We have had a look at your selections below and truly evaluate how good there chances are of winning there specific races and the bet as a whole.

The first race of the Request A Bet with Sky Bet comes in the first Grade 1 over fences at the festival with the Arkle and your selection of Glen Forsa is an extremely interesting character.

Standing at 40/1 to take the Arkle on 15th February not many people in the racing would have though this selection would of have stood a chance about a month ago but today he is the current second favourite at 7/2 and one of the leading chances for his trainer Mick Channon at the festival.

The seven year old has been raced fairy frequently compared to some other horses that he will be running against, having five races so far this term going to win three of them and finishing second in his first two outings of the campaign.

The race that truly matters towards his form line leading into Cheltenham is his latest win in the Grade 2 Kingmaker Novices Chase at the rearranged Sandown where he went on to dominate leading chance for many in the Arkle, Kalashnikov.

This is the victory that put him on the map and saw his odds slashed to 8/1 from 40s and now because of the favourite for the contest, Le Richebourg being pulled out he is now 7/2 and holds a great chance in taking the Grade 1 race.

The next selection of the 150/1 RAB is the Nicky Henderson trained dual winner of this race in the last two years in Buveur D'Air and in this race which is a slight minefield he has come out on top as your selection.

The J P McManus owned eight year old could well and truly write his name into Cheltenham festival folklore if he does go on to land this race for the third time in a row.

However, this year will be the toughest of them all with better horses to compete against, tougher ground conditions and less time on the track then usual but he is a force to be reckoned with.

This season he has raced three times winning in first two in workman like fashion but losing his last prep race at Kempton over Christmas when being chinned on the line by stablemate Verdana Blue.

This was arguably the biggest shock of the season and deterred a fair few punters away from the eight year old but obviously not the majority and although he comes into this off the back of a loss his form otherwise speaks for itself and his is currently still the favourite to take the Grade 1 contest.

The third race of the RAB see's arguably one of punters leading bankers at the festival this season in Paisley Park to take the Grade 1 Stayers Hurdle.

This would be one of the stories of the week with trainer Emma Lavelle not being the biggest yard on show across the four days but what this horse has done for them is nothing short of a miracle giving the trainer her first Grade 1 and definitely her greatest day at a racecourse.

This seven year old is a selection that we throughly can get behind with what he has done all season, being unbeaten in all four starts and landing a Grade 1, 2 and 3 race.

All his performances have been spectacular so far this campaign, with his Grade 1 victory at Ascot beating some good horses that day and then his late rally to get up an win the Grade 3 Stayers Hurdle at Haydock.

However, his best in our opinion was his latest win at Cheltenham in the Grade 2 Cleeve Hurdle where he showed how good a horse he actually is and if repeating that next week it would take something outrageous to beat him.

The final selection of the Community bet see's one of the most interesting races of the entire week and the feature of the four days with the Magners Gold Cup.

This race is the biggest event of the festival but trying to pick a winner this year is one of the toughest tasks in horse racing at the moment with so many special horses on show.

The majority of you picked long time favourite Presenting Percy who if going on to win will be the first horse in the races history to win the Grade 1 on his first race over fences in the season.

He has only raced once this season over hurdles at Gowran Park showing he still has his engine and clear staying ability that is why he is so attractive the Gold Cup betting.

However, his lack of presence on a racecourse is what frightens a lot of punters and we won't know what to expect until he runs but he is a special gelding and his form at Cheltenham speaks for itself after last year's RSA Chase victory.