Cheltenham Betting Thursday: The New Course, the Stayers' Hurdle, the Ryanair and How to Bet Day Three

Updated 19 Oct 2026 · By the IrishBetGuide Editorial Team

By Thursday at Cheltenham, most of us have a fair idea how the week is going, and that's exactly when the betting gets sloppy. Day three is also the day the action moves to a different track, the New Course, which quietly changes what kind of horse runs well. Add a championship race for staying hurdlers, the Ryanair Chase in the middle distance, and a pair of long handicaps, and you've a card that rewards a bit of homework. Here's how to approach it, with worked sums and no made-up tips.

18+ only. This is a guide to thinking about the day, not a list of selections, and every price on this page is an example. Cloudbet, which we link to, holds a Curaçao licence and is not licensed by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI).

What changes on day three

Tuesday and Wednesday are raced on the Old Course. From Thursday, the Festival switches to the New Course for the last two days. Both are left-handed and both finish up the famous hill, but they aren't identical. The New Course is generally described as a stiffer test, with a longer run from the final fence or flight to the line on many trips and some fences placed in spots that suit horses who jump fluently at a gallop.

Why should a punter care? Because course form from earlier in the week, and from earlier meetings, isn't all equal. A horse that has run well over the Old Course in November or January hasn't necessarily shown it can handle the New Course in March. When you're reading form, it's worth checking which course a previous Cheltenham run came on. Most decent form sites note it, and the racecard often does too.

The ground can be different again. The two courses are watered and managed separately, and by Thursday the Old Course has taken two days of racing while the New Course is fresh. Don't assume the going description from Wednesday carries over. Check the official update on Thursday morning.

The usual shape of the Thursday card

Race order, titles and sponsors change from year to year, and the organisers have moved races between days before. So take this as the typical picture and confirm everything on the official racecard:

That gives you three types of race to think about on one afternoon: small-field championship races, big-field handicaps and novice races where the form book is thin. Each needs a different bet type, which we'll come to.

The Stayers' Hurdle: stamina before reputation

The Stayers' Hurdle is the championship race for hurdlers at around three miles. The biggest single question in it is simple: has this horse proven it stays the trip in a truly run race? A horse that won a two-and-a-half-mile hurdle in a slow-run race can look classy on paper and then empty out up the hill.

Four checks that are worth more than a pundit's opinion:

1. Distance record. Note how many times it has finished in the first two at three miles or further, and in what ground.
2. Race shape. Was the trial run at a good gallop, or did it turn into a sprint from the last? Sprint finishes flatter horses with speed and hide stamina doubts.
3. Age and mileage. Staying hurdlers can be good for several seasons, but a horse with many hard races in its legs can find the Festival one race too many.
4. Where it came from. Irish trials such as Leopardstown in late January or early February, and British trials at Cheltenham in January, are common routes. Weigh how strong those trial fields really were.

Small fields mean each-way terms are less generous here. If a book offers two places in a field of seven or fewer, an each-way bet only pays on a top-two finish, and the place part pays a quarter of the odds. That makes each-way a poor fit for most short-priced Stayers' Hurdle runners. A straight win bet, or nothing, is usually the cleaner choice.

The Ryanair Chase: the race of crossovers

The Ryanair sits between the two-mile Champion Chase and the three-mile-plus Gold Cup, so it draws horses from both directions. That's what makes it interesting and sometimes awkward to bet early. Trainers often wait to decide which race a horse goes for, and if you bet ante-post you can lose your stake to a non-runner.

Ask which camp each fancied horse belongs to:

Here's an example of turning a view into a number. Say a Ryanair market looks like this (invented prices):

Those add up to 101.2%, which is a tight book for a five-runner race. If you think B, a horse stepping up in trip, has a 33% chance because the ground has come up good, then a €10 win bet at 3.50 has an expected return of 0.33 × €35 = €11.55, an expected profit of about €1.55. If you think it's only 25% likely, the same bet is worth €8.75, a loss of €1.25 on average. The skill isn't predicting the winner; it's being honest about the percentage.

The novice chase on day three

The two-and-a-half-mile novice chase that often opens Thursday brings together horses who have only had a handful of runs over fences. On the New Course, slick jumping at speed tends to be rewarded, and one bad mistake at the wrong fence ends a race.

What to look at:

• Fall and unseat record over fences. Even one or two mistakes in a short chase career is a serious warning in a championship race.
• How it won. A novice who led and jumped boldly is easier to trust than one who scraped home after two clumsy jumps.
• Experience. Horses who have only had one chase run are a bigger gamble, however good they looked over hurdles.

For small fields, our day-two guide covers the "without the favourite" market in detail, and it's often offered on this race too.

Thursday's staying handicaps: Pertemps and Kim Muir

Thursday has two long-distance handicaps that bring big fields and big each-way prices. They behave a little differently.

The Pertemps Final

Horses usually need to run in a qualifying race during the season to be eligible. That has two effects. First, you can see which qualifiers a horse ran in and how it ran, because some trainers use them purely to get a place in the final. Second, some horses arrive on a mark that doesn't reflect their best because their qualifying run was a quiet one.

The Kim Muir

This is a handicap chase for amateur riders. In most races the jockey matters a bit; here it can matter a lot. Experienced amateurs who ride regularly at big meetings are worth a few pounds, or in euro terms, a few percentage points of chance, compared with a rider having a rare ride. Check the booking, not just the horse.

Each-way maths for big fields

Let's work an example. You back a horse each-way at 16/1 (17.00 decimal) for €5 each-way, a €10 total stake. Terms: five places at a quarter of the odds (illustrative; many books offer extra places at the Festival, and terms vary).

The place part pays at 5/1 here, which is a fair price only if your horse has better than a one-in-six chance of finishing in the first five. In a 24-runner staying handicap, with plenty of horses on good marks, that's a real question to answer rather than assume.

The Festival Plate and the Mares' Novices' Hurdle

The Plate is a handicap chase at around two and a half miles, normally run at a strong gallop. Horses that can travel and jump well in the pack tend to get involved. A horse that needs to lead, in a race with several other front-runners, can burn itself out. Look at the likely pace before you look at the weights.

The Mares' Novices' Hurdle is hard to price. Many of the runners haven't met each other, form often comes from different countries, and the big yards may run more than one. Small stakes, or no bet, is a reasonable policy. If you like one, check whether the trainer's other runner is the stable's first choice, which you can sometimes judge from the jockey booking.

Matching the bet type to the race

The day-three trap: chasing the week

Thursday is the day when people start "getting it back". If Tuesday and Wednesday went badly, there's a pull to increase stakes. If they went well, there's a pull to bet with the winnings as if they're free money. Both lead to the same place.

A simple fix is to set a four-day budget before Tuesday and split it in advance. For example, from a €200 Festival budget:

Winnings go into a separate pot you don't touch until the Festival ends. That keeps Thursday's staking tied to Thursday's opinions, not to how you feel about Tuesday.

Using price comparison properly

For big Festival races, bookmakers' prices can differ noticeably, and early in the day some firms put up "price boosts" on popular horses. Compare the boosted price with the best normal price elsewhere: a boost from 5.00 to 6.00 is only worth having if nobody else offers 6.00 already.

Best-odds-guaranteed offers, where they exist, pay the starting price if it's bigger than the price you took. Read the terms: these offers often have maximum stakes and may not apply to every race or every customer.

Live betting on Thursday

In-running betting is possible on many books and exchanges, but horse racing moves fast and pictures can be a few seconds behind the action. In a three-mile race there's a temptation to back a horse that looks to be travelling well on the far side. Remember that the New Course's run-in and the hill have caught plenty of horses who looked like winners turning in. If you bet live, use small stakes and accept that some of the "travelling well" you see is on a delayed feed.

Where Cloudbet fits in

Cloudbet covers major racing including the Festival and takes crypto deposits and withdrawals, so it can be one more price to check. Know the trade-offs before you use it:

• It's licensed in Curaçao, not by the GRAI, so Irish regulatory protection and complaint routes don't apply.
• If your balance is held in crypto, its euro value can move up or down between bets.
• Each-way terms, extra places and specials differ from book to book and race to race, so read them first.

Thursday morning checklist

• Check the official going for the New Course, not Wednesday's going.
• Confirm declared runners, non-runners and jockey bookings, especially in the Kim Muir.
• Note which previous Cheltenham runs came on the New Course.
• Decide which three races you actually have a view on, and leave the rest.
• Write your Thursday stake limit down before the first race.

Our Cheltenham betting guide covers the week as a whole, the day-two guide covers the Champion Chase and the Bumper, and the going guide explains how ground changes the picture.

Keep it a bit of fun

If Thursday is the day you start betting more than planned, that's a sign to stop, not to push on. The Gambling Care helpline is free, confidential and open 24/7 on 1800 936 725 (Northern Ireland: 08000 886 725). There's more on our responsible gambling page, and our page on whether online betting is legal in Ireland covers the GRAI and licensing.