Cheltenham Staking Plans

Many people go to these top-class meetings and often think they can back every winner in every race. 

As experienced bettors we are well-read and know how to find winners but... most of us go there with the intention of not backing in every race 

We know it's almost impossible to go through the card, yet sometimes we still back a horse in every race.

Sometimes because we have backed the first winner and have extra cash and we think our luck is in. 

Other times because we have had losers in the first 2 races and want to get our money back

As we know, chasing your losses is a no-no but sometimes we are all guilty of being "In the Moment" and thinking we will back the next winner and get our lost funds back.

Many times, especially at the Cheltenham Festival and other big meetings (Royal Ascot) I have stuck to 1 of 2 Staking Plans I have, 

One of them involves backing a horse in every race, whereas the other doesn't, although if you want to you can.

I devised these 2 betting systems (a few years later) after I went to a race meeting with my dad many years ago (although I slightly changed the format of both later)

Many times, especially at the Cheltenham Festival and other big meetings (Royal Ascot) I have stuck to 1 of 2 Staking Plans I have, 

One of them involves backing a horse in every race, whereas the other doesn't, although if you want to you can.

I devised these 2 betting systems (a few years later) after I went to a race meeting with my dad many years ago (although I slightly changed the format of both later)

When we lived in Middlesbrough (My parents were publicans and we rarely spent more than 2 years in a pub before moving to the next one),

My dad wanted to take me to Redcar Racecourse for my first taste of live racing, i had previously bet on and watched TV racing for years, but had previously only been to the dogs.

So anyway, we went to Redcar and I watched my dad pick his first horse, straight £10 win, it didn't win but was placed, no returns

Race 2, another £10 win, again, no winner but again, another placed horse.

Race 3, yet another £10 win, and again his selection was placed.

So far he has backed 2 horses to win and all 3 were beaten yet placed.

Onto Race 4, and again another win bet, not sure of the stake and again his horse doesn't win, but it didn't get placed either.

Race 5, another win bet, and yet again another losing selection, and this selection was placed, 

So we come to the final race of the meeting and again he has another win bet, and believe it or not, yet another placed selection but no winner.

So in total, he has backed 6 horses to win, none have won but 5 of the 6 were placed, 

I took his racecard home and that's what got me thinking of different ways to try and win money.

We all want to go to the races and come back making a profit, but in all honesty, you can make a profit, without actually winning a race

Now let's have a look at the two Staking Plans I have

Win & Place

Using Win and Place betting you have to give yourself a percentage for this bet and stick with it, 

When I bet Win/Place I place 25% of my stake on the win and 75% of my stake on the place. 

These bets have to be placed on the Tote as on-course bookies will accept Win bets and EW bets but sadly not Win/Place bets.

Just in case you didn't know or weren't sure, an EW bet splits your stake in half, so a total stake of £20, would be split into a £10 win bet and a £10 place bet and even if backing a short-priced selection ew, you might not get your stake back if backing EW

I know what your saying, if we back EW and our selection wins, we receive far more winnings than if we back win and place, that is correct but statistics show that you are less likely to pick a winner than you are to pick a placed horse.

Let's just say you fancied a 2/1 shot and decided to back it £7.50 EW, most on-course bookies give 1/5 odds for EW betting, so if your horse places you get £10.50 back, that's a loss of £4.50 on your bet

Now if you put 25% (£5) on the win (2/1) and 75% (£10) on the place, this could pay 1/2 (you cannot take odds, you get what the tote pays) and if your horse is placed you get your total stake back, no loss for this race

Douvan winning the Supreme Novices last year was returned at 2/1 and paid £1.60 for a place, slightly better than 1/2.

If your horse had won and you backed £7.50 EW your total return would have been £33, £22.50 for your win, and £10.50 for your place

Backing win and place, you would have received £30, £15 for your win, and £15 for your place

That's just £3 less yet if your horse had lost, you would have received £4.50 more, and like I said earlier, you are less likely to keep picking winners than you are placed horses.

Multiple Lucky 15's

I can hear you saying, Lucky 15's, are you kidding me, the bookie's favourite bet. 

If you are unsure of what a lucky 15 is please visit the types of bet school page.

Yes, they are the bookies favourite as more than half of your stake is lost when you have a loser, but please bear with me

All 4 days of the festival have 7 races in them and if you wanted to back in every race then that's fine, but again, how likely are you to back 7 winners, or even 6 or even 5?

4 winners will be very tough but not impossible and I know plenty of people who have backed 3 winners.

This is where the lucky 15's come in. 

Let's say you want to have a bet in all 7 races and for arguments stake you wanted to have 7 x £20 (£10 ew bets).

For an additional small outlay, you could cover these with lucky 15's and if you were lucky enough you could win a few extra pounds. 

When I place my Lucky 15's, I do not do them ew as its a waste of stake for, I place mine in high street bookies and do them as win lucky 15's with place trebles and an ew Acca for the same win stake.

You are entitled to do this as it's the same as EW trebles and an EW Acca, but the stakes must be the same.

Unless you can find an online bookie that offers place betting then you can increase your stake.

So, I now know what bets i want, but how will i work out how many bets to place, the amount of lucky 15's is entirely up to you and how you do them is again your choice

Here is a formula for backing 6 races:

• 1, 2, 3, 4
• 2, 3, 4, 5
• 3, 4, 5, 6
• 1, 2, 5, 6

You have selection 1 x 2

• Selection 2 x 3
• Selection 3 x 3
• Selection 4 x 3
• Selection 5 x 3
• Selection 6 x 2

That's 4 lucky 15's and you are guaranteed at least 1 double should you have 2 winners.

As you can see, Selections 1 & 6 are only in 2 bets, so you wouldn't put your banker in those positions, 

You would put it in places 2, 3, 4, or 5 so you have it 3 times.

Here is a formula for backing in 8 races -

• 1, 2, 3, 4
• 2, 3, 4, 5
• 3, 4, 5, 6
• 4, 5, 6, 7
• 5, 6, 7, 8
• 1, 3, 5, 7
• 2, 4, 6, 8
• 1, 2, 7, 8

You have selection 

• Selection 1 x 3
• Selection 2 x 4
• Selection 3 x 4
• Selection 4 x 5
• Selection 5 x 5
• Selection 6 x 4
• Selection 7 x 4
• Selection 8 x 3

Slots 4 and 5 are the most used here, so your best bet of the day would go in either of those.

That's 8 lucky 15's and you are guaranteed at least 1 double should you have 2 winners.

But as Cheltenham has 7 races per day, here is the formula I will be using this year. 

• 1, 2, 3, 4
• 2, 3, 4, 5
• 3, 4, 5, 6
• 4, 5, 6, 7
• 1, 2, 6, 7
• 1, 3, 5, 7

That's 6 bets with selections 1, 2, 6 & 7 being used 3 times and selections 3,4 & 5 being used 4 times. 

This year i could do the following staking plan

7 x £10 wins = £70.

Then all of my lucky 15's could be as follows.

25p lucky 15, 4 x 25p place trebles, 25p place Acca = £5 per bet

That's an extra £30 in stakes, but could you imagine how much extra you could win should you get 3 winners priced at 4/1.

it's very possible you could have all 3 in 1 bet, which would return £53.75 (without place returns).

Any double you had would pay £6.25.

I have never had 4 winners at Cheltenham doing this bet, but I have had 4 winners (On a solo lucky 15) using 8 selections before and numerous 4 placed on the same bet at other meetings.

If you want to ask anything or need more advice then please leave a message or more importantly, send me a message

N.B: Neither of these plans is guaranteed to make you money