The Ultimate Matched Bettors Guide To Cheltenham 2025

The Cheltenham Festival 2025 (Tuesday 11th March until Friday 14th March) is one of the biggest horse racing events of the year in the UK and is the most profitable time of the year for anyone Matched Betting - no matter if you're new or experienced.

In this article, you’ll learn how to best prepare for this year’s festival and find out how much you can expect to make if you are brand new, a seasoned pro or just short on time or money.

We also have a daily routine for you to follow to maximise your profits and make this your most profitable Cheltenham ever!

Why Is The Cheltenham Festival Such A Big Deal?

That’s easy...the more popular an event is with traditional punters the better that event is for Matched Betting.

Cheltenham is MASSIVELY popular with punters and throughout the festival, they will bet hundreds of millions of pounds with the bookies. Each bookie will be fighting it out to make sure you choose them to bet with.

This means they’ll be pushing very competitive odds, loads of free bet offers, money-back specials, price boosts and more extra place races, with ‘extra’ extra places!

These all add up to give us tons of opportunities to earn some extra cash through Matched Betting.

For 4 days solid! Lovely :)

If this is your first time Matched Betting the Cheltenham Festival and you want to see the best returns for the time you put in you need to get prepared right now.

Cheltenham 2025 Race Schedule

You can pre-plan your Matched Betting day during Cheltenham by knowing the daily race schedules, which races will be shown on ITV and which races are considered to be the ‘highlight’ for each day.

Although the bookies often run offers for you to profit from throughout the day, many tend to focus key offers on the first race of the day or the ‘highlight’ race(s) of the day. It can also be the case that certain bookies also push offers on races they're sponsoring.

(Subject to change - times and race names/sponsors may differ)

Tuesday, 11th March 2025 - Champion Day

13:30 The Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle (Grade 1)

14:10 The Arkle Challenge Trophy Steeple Chase (Grade 1)

14:50 The Ultima Handicap Steeple Chase (Premier Handicap)

15:30 The Unibet Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy (Grade 1) - Highlight Race

16:10 The Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle Race (Grade 1)

16:50 The Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle Race (Premier Handicap)

17:30 The National Hunt Steeple Chase Challenge Cup (Amateur Riders’ Novices’ Steeple Chase) (Grade 2)

Wednesday, 12th March 2025 - Style Wednesday

13:30 The Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle Race (Grade 1)

14:10 The Brown Advisory Novices’ Steeple Chase (Grade 1)

14:50 The Coral Cup Hurdle (A Handicap Hurdle Race) (Premier Handicap)

15:30 Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase (Grade 1) - Highlight Race

16:10 The Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeple Chase

16:50 The Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Steeple Chase Challenge Cup (Premier Handicap)

17:30 The Weatherbys Champion Bumper (A Standard Open NH Flat Race) (Grade 1)

Thursday, 13th March 2025 - St Patrick's Thursday

13:30 The Turners Novices' Chase (Grade 1)

14:10 The Pertemps Network Final (A Handicap Hurdle Race) (Listed) (Premier Handicap)

14:50 The Ryanair Steeple Chase (Grade 1) - Highlight Race

15:30 The Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle (Grade 1)

16:10 The TrustATrader Plate (A Handicap Steeple Chase) (Premier Handicap)

16:50 The Ryanair Mares Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 2)

17:30 The Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup (Sponsored by The JRL Group) Handicap Steeple Chase (0-145)

Friday, 14th March 2025 - Gold Cup Day

13:30 The JCB Triumph Hurdle (Grade 1)

14:10 The County Handicap Hurdle Race (Premier Handicap)

14:50 The Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle Race (Grade 1)

15:30 The Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup Steeple Chase (Grade 1) - Highlight Race

16:10 The St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters' Steeple Chase

16:50 The Mrs Paddy Power Mares' Steeple Chase (Grade 2)

17:30 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (0-145)

How To Prepare For Cheltenham 2025

We asked our Matched Betting experts for their best tips to help you prepare for this year’s Cheltenham Festival.

1. Practice makes profit

If you’ve never bet on Horse Racing before then RIGHT NOW is the time to start.

Start by placing a few Qualifying Bets for any relevant weekly bet clubs using horse racing. Then add in any price boosts that pop up on Horse Racing too.

Next, you can start to add in a few Horse Racing Refunds (a.k.a. Money Back offers). At this point, you want to become pretty confident at finding good bets using both the Oddsmatching and Match Catcher Tool.

If you're an experienced Matched Bettor and have a decent bankroll available, you’ll want to start learning about Extra Place offers if you haven’t already done so.

Extra Places are considered to be a more advanced type of Horse Racing Matched Betting reload offer – but are well worth investing the time in learning because of the substantial profits they can make you once you master them.

2. Join our community

The tips and advice available in our Facebook community are on another level. If you have a question about horse racing offers, Cheltenham or anything related please ask it!

All the expert Outplayed team and 1000's of experienced members are all ready to help you make the most of your Matched Betting.

The Outplayed Team will also be running numerous live events and Q&A sessions in the lead-up to Cheltenham. Make time to watch any and everyone that you can. If you can't make the 'live' event - the recordings are always available afterwards on both Facebook and YouTube.

3. Set up 0% commission at Matchbook

You should have 0% commission at Matchbook exchange if you joined them via our link during your free trial. If you missed this for any reason, please contact Matchbook customer service and they can help set that up for you.

Paying 0% commission on all your lay bets throughout the festival will help you make extra profit on each offer you do.

4. Boost & organise your bankroll

Assuming you've already started Matched Betting, in the weeks leading up to Cheltenham if you’ve got signup offers left to do get them done and out of the way.

Also, hit any and every reload offer you can do that comes your way - no matter how small the profit - it all soon adds up. You want to build up your bankroll as much as you can ready for Cheltenham.

If you have access to casino offers, then blasting through a few of the easier, lowest-risk casino signup offers could also be very worth your while.

As Cheltenham draws closer you want to start looking at moving as much of your bankroll as possible, especially from the bookies you use less often, into your bank and preferred betting exchange accounts.

You want to have as much as you possibly can available in your exchanges and Matched Betting bank account allowing you to take on any offer you want during Cheltenham. There is nothing worse than seeing an awesome offer over the festival that you can’t do because you’re out of funds to cover the liability of your lay bets.

5. Understand & know how to use shared liability

In most cases, when you place 2 (or even more) lay bets on different outcomes (or selections) within the same betting market at the same betting exchange your liability gets split between.

This is helpful because it means your bankroll will stretch further by reducing your total amount of liability needed to place those lay bets.

If you don’t learn how to use shared liability to your advantage you will miss out on opportunities to profit at Cheltenham – especially if you only have a smaller bankroll.

6. Get organised

At a bare minimum, you should plan what offers to prioritise. You can sort this by focusing on the most valuable offers first. This will help you avoid missing out on profits during the busy Cheltenham week.

At the bare minimum have a notepad where you can jot down your free bets or similar offers that you haven't yet done. The last thing you want is a free bet to expire as you forgot to use it! Easy money, down the drain.

We’ll list all the best offers daily with instructions on how to complete them in the reload offers area.

7. Get ready to hustle

The more effort and time you put into Matched Betting Cheltenham, the more money you can make. If you can, arrange it so you have as much time as possible to do Matched Betting over those four festival days, it’ll pay off.

If you’re lucky enough to have flexible hours at work – see if you can start late on those days or have a long lunch break. You can then fill that time with Matched Betting. (We’ve experienced members who take the time off work so they can solely focus on the festival. Of course, we can't all do this but the fact members do it at all just makes the point of how much is up for grabs).

You may want to warn family/friends that you will be super busy over the festival period too. Then they’ll be prepared for it when you need to put in the time on your computer.

If you can only find 10-20 minutes in the day for Matched Betting - don't worry and do what you can, do not compare yourself to others who have more time. Any extra cash you can put in your pocket for spending how you like is a positive. Focus on that.

How Much Can You Make From Cheltenham?

Earnings from Matched Betting Cheltenham can vary enormously depending on factors like your bankroll, the amount of time you have to put in, which bookie accounts you have access to, and your level of experience doing a variety of offers.

Based on the factors mentioned above, it's impossible to say how much you could make over the 4 days of the festival. However, you can get an excellent gauge of what is possible based on members' reported profits in the Outplayed Community from previous years.

Each year we ask our members to post their overall profits in our Community Forum at the end of the Cheltenham Festival.

Over the last 5 Cheltenham Festivals (2019 - 2023), during just 4-days of Matched Betting, the average amount made per person was £681.31

The top earners will be using the powerful Extra Place Master tool available with our Outplayed Pro membership to maximise their profits from Extra Place offers.

How Much Can You Make From Cheltenham If You’re New Or Have A Small Bankroll?

Even if you're new to Matched Betting just as Cheltenham starts, or have a small bankroll, you can still make a very decent profit for relatively little effort over the 4 days of the festival.

Some bookies will push supercharged sign-up offers during big sporting events like Cheltenham to help them attract new customers. As a beginner, you especially want to keep an eye out for the enhanced sign-up offers from the bookmakers as these have the potential to massively boost your initial Matched Betting bankroll.

As a quick example, a bookie might offer Bet £10 Get £40 in free bets rather than their usual Bet £10 Get £20 in free bets allowing you to lock in more profits than normal.

Alongside any enhanced signup offers you can do, focus on the easy reload offers each day to make the most of the extra opportunities on offer during Cheltenham. Learning how to take advantage of shared liability will also help you achieve good profits with a small bankroll.

How Much Can You Make If You're Working Full-Time During Cheltenham?

Whilst you may see some very experienced Matched Bettors report that they will take time off over Cheltenham to make the absolute most of the festival, the vast majority of Matched Bettors are making money from Cheltenham around their full-time jobs.

If this is your situation, keep organised and jump on every opportunity you can and avoid comparing yourself to others! You won't be able to make as much as those who are able to dedicate more time - but you can still give yourself a great boost to your income for relatively little effort.

Is It Worthwhile Using Annual Leave For Cheltenham?

Up until a point, the more time you spend Matched Betting the more you can make. However, before you book any time off work you should ask yourself:

- Are you an experienced Matched Bettor with a very decent-sized bankroll and lots of healthy accounts?

- Are you very comfortable doing Extra Places and fully understand how they work? (i.e. that they are a +EV potential profit offer)

If your answer is a firm yes to both questions above, then you may want to consider booking at least a little time off work during the Cheltenham Festival. Although of course, we can never guarantee it will be worth your while, you will have good opportunities to take lots of value and make some very good profits during the festival.

The decision ultimately rests with you. It is 100% a personal choice and will not be an option for everyone.

Always remember that Matched Betting is ultimately considered to be a way to boost your income and not a replacement for a full-time job.

Matched Betting Daily Routine For The Cheltenham Festival

If you’re not sure where to start on each day of the festival, our team of experts have come up an easy 5-step daily routine for you.

You might not have the spare time around your schedule to fit everything in, that’s ok, just focus on using it as a guide to help you take as much value as possible.

1. Plan your day

Take time the evening before each race day to make a note of the offers you intend to do the next day. You'll find all the best offers listed with full instructions in our reload offers area.

As you complete each offer, you can mark it off to help you keep motivated and focused. Otherwise, it can be overwhelming when you are faced with so many offers.

2. Complete easy, guaranteed, lock-in profit offers first

If you’re limited on time, it’s a good idea to complete any offers you can the night before or first thing in the morning.

Likewise, if you’re lucky enough to have plenty of time, you’ll still benefit by doing these offers early to get them ticked off and out the way so you’re ready to take on the more profitable offers.

These are offers such as:

Direct Free Bet Offers (e.g. £5 Free Bet on the first race of the day)

Straightforward Bet and Get Type Offers (e.g. Bet £10 on the first race of the day and get a £10 free bet on the 2nd race)

Money-back, or Refund, as cash or a free bet if your horse loses. (e.g. £10 money-back as cash if your horse loses in the first race of the day).

If you have a smaller Matched Betting Bankroll, you don't want to do a load of Potential Profit Offers first, only to then realise you don't have enough liability left in your exchange to do the offers that can make you an instant guaranteed profit (when done correctly).

3. Add in potential profit offers with the most likelihood of a return

Horse Racing Refund Offers, or money back If X happens, are the next type of Matched Betting Offer you’ll want to jump on at Cheltenham. There’ll likely be a fair few of these available on each day of the festival.

Focus on doing those that have the highest chance of happening and/or the highest expected value first - especially if you only have a small Matched Betting bankroll available.

What do we mean by choosing those with the highest chance of happening or the highest expected value? Well, as a quick comparison, this offer:

£10 Money Back as CASH if your horse comes 2nd, 3rd, or 4th.

Has a higher value than this offer:

£10 Money Back as a free bet if your horse comes 2nd.

Both are excellent offers you’ll want to be doing if you have the bankroll available - but if you are in a position where you have to choose the best to do - the first one offers you more value than the second because the refund is as cash instead of a free bet AND because you can get the refund if the horse lands in 1 of 3 places (rather than just a single place).

You can move to the smaller value opportunites after you have completed all the priority higher value offers and if you have a large enough bankroll to cover those bets.

4. Boost your way to profit

Make sure you’re prepared to smash the additional price boosts that are available at Cheltenham!

Price boosts, or enhanced odds offers, although one of the simplest, quickest and most profitable reload offers to do in Matched Betting are often overlooked.

Any time you see a price boost offer where the new boosted back odds offered by the bookmaker are higher than the available lay odds for that same outcome on the exchange – you’ll make a profit using our Matched Betting calculator. This involves placing a back and lay bet to lock in an instant profit from the price boost offer.

The bookies push more price boosts than usual during Cheltenham so keep an eye on the reload offers area and in our community Forum for the latest profitable opportunities.

5. Start advanced offers (Extra Places)

We’ve broken this part down into 2 sections if you have or haven't done Extra Places (EPs) before:

- If You've NEVER Done Extra Places Before

Horse Racing Extra Place offers are an ADVANCED type of Matched Betting Offer and not something to just start jumping into willy-nilly!

If you’ve read ALL the Extra Places offers guides, watched ALL the training videos and feel very confident in what you're doing, enough to have a go at trying some Extra Places using small stakes (£2 max) - then Cheltenham is an excellent time to do so.

Use Cheltenham as an excellent opportunity to practice Extra Places more than make a profit from them (which you will likely do - but it's possible you might not too!). Once you master Extra Places there are then loads more opportunities to profit coming up during the rest of the year, and then we'll be back at next year’s Cheltenham before you know it!

- If You HAVE Done Extra Places Before & Have Liability Left To Use

Throughout the day (many argue from the early hours if you can!), between doing all the other offers mentioned above, you need to be keeping an eye out for good each-way matches on horses running at Cheltenham.

You can find close matches using the Extra Place Catcher and by keeping an eye on the daily Extra Place thread in the forum.

You can take your earnings to a new level by using our revolutionary Extra Place Master tool available with our Outplayed Pro membership to maximise your profits from Extra Place offers. Current Pro members are making an easy £500+ each month and expect to make much more during Cheltenham.

Enjoy Cheltenham!

Finally, regardless of where you are on your Matched Betting journey, you should see Cheltenham as a bonus chance to boost your profits and grow your bankroll to a new high.

By using Matched Betting for Cheltenham please enjoy this fact:

You’re going to be one of a small percentage of people who’ll make a profit from betting during the festival!