Cheltenham Gold Cup Betting 2012

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the biggest race of the Cheltenham festival and the showpiece race on the final day of the festival. Cheltenham Gold Cup betting 2012 is a market which contains some of the very best horses in UK National Hunt racing. The quality of the animals, jockeys and trainers involved means this is one of the most difficult markets to get to grips with over the four days.

Cheltenham Gold Cup betting 2012 depends on a variety of different things. The list of favourites in Cheltenham Gold Cup betting 2012 includes a number of past winners including the current title holder Long Run. The Cheltenham Gold Cup will be run on March 16 in front of a packed crowd.

Format of the Gold Cup

The format of the Gold Cup is very simple. The race is a Grade 1 National Hunt race over a distance of three miles and two and a half furlongs. From a betting sense, any horse with a great stamina will stand a chance of doing well in the race. The race is open to horses aged five-years-old and older although there have only ever been three five-year-old winners of the race in 1924, 1928 and 1932.

The format of the Gold Cup includes a number of fences to be jumped over the course of the race, 22 in total. The fences are bigger than hurdles which are commonly made from tree twigs. Horses need to have experience of going over big jumps because any horse without this experience could get spooked and refuse a jump at a critical point in the race.

Favourites for the Gold Cup

There are many horses that can be considered favourites for the Gold Cup but the current favourite for the race is the defending champion Long Run. Long Run is one of the favourites for the Gold Cup because the horse has four wins and two third place finishes from six career races. Long Run won the 2011 Gold Cup by a distance of seven lengths.

Kauto Star is one of the favourites for the Gold Cup in Cheltenham Gold Cup betting 2012 because this horse has won the race twice in the past; 2007 and 2009. Kauto Star has a massive 17 wins from 28 career races which proves the consistency and productiveness of the animal over long distance races.

Outsiders for the Gold Cup

The nature of the Gold Cup as a race is brutal and means that any decent outsider stands a chance of winning or at least placing. Grands Crus is one of the outsiders for the Gold Cup in 2012. Grands Crus has four wins and four second places from ten career races. These races include four appearances at Cheltenham with a second place finish at the World Hurdle at the Cheltenham festival in 2011.

Rubi Light is another of the outsiders for the Gold Cup with a good record in jump racing. Rubi Light has raced 13 times and has four wins, three second places and three third places. The more conservative punter will see Rubi Light as more of an each way bet because the horse has only raced at Cheltenham once, which was during the 2011 festival.

Gold Cup Underdogs

Gold Cup underdogs are popular with the betting public because they create the best drama as well as the best returns in a betting sense. A good example of one of the Gold Cup underdogs is What A Friend, a horse with 11 place finishes from a total of 16 runs. Gold Cup underdogs are well worth small each way bets at the very least because any horse can compete over a long distance jump race through making few mistakes.