20 Horses to Follow for the 2017 Cheltenham Festival
You can see results and trends for the four days of the 2017 Cheltenham festival through the links below:
Following the sucess of 20 To Follow for the jumps last season we are introducing something similar for the 2017 Cheltenham Festival. The horses have been handpicked on the basis of being potential Cheltenham contenders. That means most of the runners will be in the big Saturday trials throughout the season.
The formula came good at Cheltenham in 2016 year where Annie Power, Any Currency, Don Cossack, Ivanovich Gorbatov and On The Fringe winning for the service.
Below is the list of our horses, showing name, age, trainer, main 2017 Cheltenham Festival target, best price (decimal and fractional) for that race and bookmaker. We will update this feature each Monday to take into account the trials and the betting moves.
There will be a daily update when one of the 20 runs with a staking plan based on level stakes and adjusted stakes, the best odds and the relevant bookmaker.
The 20 To Follow For Cheltenham 2017 is now over. There were 54 bets of which 20 won for a strike rate of 37.04%. Adjusted stakes were £531.49 and returned £634.77 for a profit of 19.43% and the betting bank grew by 10.33%. Level stakes bets totalled £540.00 and returned £666.50 making a profit of 23.43% and growth of 12.65%
25 To Follow For The Flat COMING SOON!
Horse | Age | Trainer | Cheltenham 2017 Target | Best Price | Bookmaker | |
Decimal | Fractional | |||||
Apples Jade | 5 | Willlie Mullins | Mares Hurdle | 5.00 | 4/1 | Paddy Power |
Augusta Kate | 5 | Willlie Mullins | Mares Novice Hurdle | 5.00 | 4/1 | Paddy Power |
Ballyandy | 6 | Nigel Twiston-Davies | Supreme Novices Hurdle | 4.50 | 7/2 | William Hill |
One Track Mind | 7 | Warren Greatrie | RSA Chase | NR | NR | NR |
Cantlow | 12 | Enda Bolger | Cross Country Chase | 3.50 | 5/2 | Stan James |
Douvan | 7 | Willlie Mullins | Queen Mother Champion Chase | 1.25 | 1/4 | Betfred |
Faugheen | 9 | Willlie Mullins | Champion Hurdle | NR | NR | NR |
Flying Tiger | 4 | Nick Williams | Triumph Hurdle | 41.00 | 40/1 | SkyBet |
Glens Harmony | 5 | Willlie Mullins | Champion Bumper | NR | NR | NR |
Ivan Grozny | 7 | Willlie Mullins | County Hurdle | NR | NR | NR |
Min | 6 | Willlie Mullins | Arkle Trophy | NR | NR | NR |
Monbeg Charmer | 6 | Charlie Longsdon | Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle | NR | NR | NR |
More Of That | 9 | Jonjo O'Neill | Cheltenham Gold Cup | 15.00 | 14/1 | William Hill |
Nichols Canyon | 7 | Willlie Mullins | Stayers' Hurdle | 10.00 | 9/1 | Coral |
No More Heroes | 8 | Gordon Elliott | Ultima Handicap Chase | NR | NR | NR |
On The Fringe | 12 | Enda Bolger | Foxhunters Chase | 3.00 | 2/1 | Paddy Power |
Senewalk | 5 | Willlie Mullins | Supreme Novices Hurdle | 34.00 | 33/1 | Coral |
Thistelcrack | 9 | Colin Tizzard | Cheltenham Gold Cup | NR | NR | NR |
Tiger Roll | 7 | Gordon Elliott | National Hunt Chase | 21.00 | 20/1 | SkyBet |
Yorkhill | 7 | Willlie Mullins | JLT Novices' Chase | 2.50 | 6/4 | Stan James |
How To Devise a 20 to Follow
We are putting forward 20 horses to follow for the current National Hunt season leading up to the Cheltenham Festival 2017. You can use these selections for future races or each time they run.
When one of our team of horses runs we will flag this up through the website and on social media. We have put together some educational material on money management and a staking plan. There will be a similar exercise undertaken in the spring for the 20 horses that we believe can prosper during the next Flat season.
We want encourage debate and engagement with regards these 20 horses!
Everyone is welcome to put forward an alternative and we will engage in discussion and debate as the season progresses. The purpose of this project is to provide some fun over the winter months as we watch how our horses run. You could also back them in ante post markets for their season long target and watch as their prices contract though obviously they could go the other way!
Staking Plan and Money Management
For most people betting is fun and involves staking was is affordable. However, a key element of any recreational or more advanced betting should be money management. This involves being aware of the financial situation with your betting which can help to maintain the fun by flagging up any potential problems. The major bookmakers and gambleware are endorsing a policy summed up by this phrase: “When the fun stops fun”. We endorse this sentiment and wish to promote Responsible Gambling while emphasising the fun element.
An important part of money management is recording your bets, either in writing or electronically. This might seem tedious and boring but is in effect an investment in time for the greater good of your betting and helps in the battle to beat the bookies. Monitoring betting in some form helps to identify the most profitable bets in terms of sports and leagues. In the context of our 20 to Follow you can analyse returns by horse and type of race. An Excel sheet will allow you to sort bets and identify the winning and losing areas.
We suggest recording the following basic details for each bet:
- Date
- Meeting
- Race
- Type of Race
- Horse
- Best Odds
- Bookmaker
- SP
- Stake
- Result
- Return
- Profit
- % Return
A useful feature of Microsoft Excel is that you can display negative figures in a different colour than the font colour. It’s a good idea to show winning figures in bold and blue and negatives in bold and red. In that way you have a red light which may lead you to a STOP in that specific area of your betting. Too many red figures may be telling you something and it’s no fun losing money regularly. We hope the 10 to Follow will only produce blue figures and consistent profits.
A well thought out staking plan is an important part of money management. You can adopt a fixed stake policy or adjusted stake policy. Working with fixed stakes means the value of your bet does not change throughout the betting and proofing period. An adjusted stakes approach means levels of stakes in keeping withy the size of your bankroll. Your Excel spreadsheet will provide the information about the size of your bank and the funds you have for betting. Both approaches should be recorded showing the amount in the bank, the adjusted stake and % growth from both systems.
Every bet may be for £10 win and place regardless of whether you are on a winning or losing run with fixed staking. Adjusted stake betting involves investing a fixed percentage of your bank which fluctuates in line with your performance. Betting 5% of the bankroll means bets of £5 when the bank is £100 and bets of £10 when the bank stands at £200. This strategy is insurance against losing all your bankroll in hard times and maximising a successful run of selections.