Countdown to the 2014 Cheltenham Festival with William Hill [Promotion]

Discover 2014 Cheltenham Festival betting with William Hill. Enjoy fabulous horseracing events, plus news on races and jockeys during the 4 days of the world-famous Festival…

If you listen carefully on 11 March 2014, you may hear a bellow that will reverberate the world over: the famed roar that the crowd emits as the inaugural race of the Cheltenham Festival gets underway.

The Grand National may be the most famous race in the National Hunt horseracing calendar, but the annual Cheltenham Festival is the most prestigious.

From 11-14 March, horseracing fans will watch — and bet — as the best British- and Irish-trained horses do battle. With hundreds of millions of pounds wagered over the course of the Festival — at the track, with bookmakers like William Hill, and, most significantly, online — the Festival packs in excitement and suspense from beginning to end.

Prestbury Park — home of the Cheltenham Festival for more than a century — will come alive as the action takes over. Highlights of the Festival include:

• Champion Hurdle Day, Tuesday 11 March: Electricity permeates the air as the Festival launches. The opening day’s races include the all-important Stan James Champion Hurdle, won last year by Hurricane Fly, who was the 2011 victor, as well.

• Ladies’ Day, Wednesday 12 March: This is the day for fun and fashion, with awards and prizes temporarily distracting the attendees from the steeds. But the races are still the focus, with the day’s 7 fixtures featuring the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

• St Patrick’s Day, Thursday 13 March: The Festival is huge with the Irish, as it always falls on or around St Patrick’s Day. There’ll be green galore as all eyes will be on the World Hurdle and the Ryanair Chase. The day also features the St Patrick’s Derby, a charity race that has raised more than £800,000 for Cancer Research UK.

• Gold Cup Day, Friday 14 March: One of the most important days in the racing calendar, featuring the most important steeplechase in the world — the Cheltenham Gold Cup race. Last year, the Nicky Henderson-trained Bobs Worth came from behind to emerge victorious, followed by Sir Des Champs and Long Run. This year’s Gold Cup looks set to be equally exciting.

Cheltenham betting to break records

All told there are 26 races over the 4 days of the Festival, which translates into huge amounts of money generated, mostly from enthusiastic punters.

But you don’t have to attend the Festival to have a punt; countless websites allow punters to bet on the Cheltenham races with ease, from any computer or mobile device. Due to the high number of races and the impressive abilities of the horses and jockeys, the Cheltenham Festival is considered a not-to-be-missed event by global horseracing fanatics.

William Hill is one of the leading online sports betting sites, and the reputable company helps make Cheltenham betting a pleasure — and a cinch. The one-stop sports betting site offers great odds, helpful statistics, loads of news and information, and live streaming of the racing when the first hoof touches the turf.

The company is backed by decades of experience as a land-based bookmaker, which means peace of mind can be added to the list of reasons that millions of bets are placed with this industry frontrunner.

A glance at William Hill Sport’s Cheltenham page will show that the ante-post favourite is Bobs Worth, last year’s Gold Cup hero, with Silviniaco Conti and Cue Card close behind. Although they are the favourites now, anyone who has ever followed the Cheltenham Festival knows that it’s always full of surprises. Follow all the latest news on William Hill and arrive at the gate fully prepared.

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