Reporting from Bet Chat HQ, Northern Ireland…
So, how was your Cheltenham? Ours over in Windecate land was pretty great.
In the second handicap race of the week, the Ultima, we even tipped all of the first four home, from just four selections!
If you didn’t have the best of weeks, maybe you’d like to join us for April’s Aintree Grand National festival and the Punchestown festival…
You can do so via this link where – spoiler alert – you can get involved for less than 20 quid.
Every day’s a school day
Regardless of whether you did well or badly (and I sincerely hope you did well), the most important thing that you can do after any bet or group of bets is to learn lessons that you can take forward and, hopefully, improve the outcomes of your future bets.
In that spirit, here are some of my key takeaways from the 2026 Cheltenham Festival…
Don’t guess and be aware of your weaknesses
I actually gave you this tip before the Festival and, once again, it rang true…
If there are certain races you don’t have a confident selection in, just don’t bet them.
I personally never analyse the Champion Bumper or the Fred Winter, and I didn’t this year. The Champion Bumper, I just didn’t have a bet in, and the Fred Winter, I followed the actual expertise of Mel Gee, who tipped the winner.
If you guess, or bet on races you know you don’t really understand, you might get lucky now and again but, over the long-term, as with a roulette player guessing numbers, YOU WILL LOSE MONEY.
You will be unlucky – don’t worry about it
Myself and the Windecate subscribers had two fallers when bang in contention, and one horse losing the race due to a shambolic start, all on the Wednesday.
When something like that happens, it’s all too easy to get frustrated and lose your discipline. We didn’t.
Thursday was actually our quietest day of the week, and resulted in a break-even, while Friday was a big winner. If we’d lost our cool, there’s every chance that Wednesday’s misfortune could have sent us into a spiral that ruined the entire week.
Horses for courses, horses for courses, horses for courses
Another tip that I mentioned before the Festival, but it really can’t be overstated.
There were two bets in particular that I absolutely loved last week…
On the Wednesday, I tipped Beckett Rock each-way, noting that he: “placed for us in the same race at 28/1 last year. This year, he’s a similar price and runs off 1lb lower.”
What happened? He once again finished placed for us, this time at 33/1.
Then, on the Friday, I tipped Cracking Rhapsody each-way, noting that he: “was a five-length seventh behind Kargese in this race last year and runs off 1lb lower today.”
What happened? He finished placed (this time in fourth), at an enormous 80/1.
Sometimes, good analysis really can be that simple.
Ignore the noise and stick to your own convictions
Lastly, a tip that applies all year round and to all types of sports betting…
There will inevitably be a lot of noise, and you should ignore 99.9% of it.
I read numerous Cheltenham tips pieces each day, and I watched ITV’s Morning Show, along with all of the main race day coverage. However, I did all this AFTER doing my own analysis and placing my own bets.
The reason isn’t that I think I’m the best racing brain in the business (I’m definitely not), it’s that if you listen to everybody else – especially during an event as popular as Cheltenham – you’ll end up wanting to back half the field in every race or, worse still, you’ll be convinced to forget your own analysis and instead side with the ‘hype’ horse.
A superb example of this came before the very first race of the Festival, when it was claimed that it didn’t matter what race Mighty Park was going to run in, as it would win regardless.
Mighty Park finished 9th of 11, while we were on the winner, Old Park Star.
See you at Aintree?
Team Windecate and I will be looking to follow up a very good Cheltenham with a very good Aintree, and if you’d like to join us, you can do so by clicking this link.
If you prefer to find your own selections, that’s also absolutely fine, and I hope that the tips above give you plenty of food for thought.
Best of luck whatever you choose to do – I’m off to start analysing the Grand National.
