We go into the 2019 Cheltenham Festival looking at the Bankers of the meeting again, and who – if any – will bring home the money.
Any horse odds-on in the betting is considered a ‘Banker’ but thay does not always mean a winner will come.
OddsMonkey has looked back over the last decade to see how the Bankers have fared and what the tells us for 2019.
Heading to Prestbury Park, we currently have four horses that are odds on for the Festival, although others may get shorter just before the off.
The current horses that are odds-on are Mares Hurdle favourite Benie Des Dieux (10/11), Tiger Roll in the Cross Country Chase (10/11) and superstar Altior – looking for a third Champion Chase – is the shortest of all at 4/9.
Triumph Hurdle Sir Erec is currently Evens but has been odds-on in recent days, so it is fair to assume he will be firmly odds-on before his race.
So if we look back over the last ten years, 2009 and of the three odds-on chances, only the legendary Master Minded won. 2010 and the results were not much no better for the fancied runners, with again just one winner in the shape of Cheltenham veteran Big Bucks. Big Bucks repeated that success 12-months later in 2011 as he along with the brilliant Quevega again tasted glory.
As we have already said 2012 saw three winners from five, and we also saw three winners again in 2013 with Simonsig, Sprinter Sacre and Quevega again on target.
2014, and French-born beauty Quevega was the only odds-on horse and she delivered her sixth crown.
In 2015 we had two odds-on winners cheered home in the shape of Un De Sceaux and Faugheen – both steered home by Ruby Walsh.
Onto 2016 and that was a good year for the Punters as three odds-on horses came home with Douvan, Vroum Vroum Mag and Limini.
2017 and it was something of a graveyard for the big names with only Altior delivering, but 2018 saw more success with Altior winning again and also Buveur D’Air and Samcro coming in.
“Last year was not a bad year at all for the Bookmakers, but we still saw three from five Bankers come in, so that is not a bad strike rate, considering how few we actually see coming up the hill at Prestbury Park,” explained OddsMonkey spokesman Peter Watton.
*Odds correct at time of publishing
Spokesman Peter Watton is available for further comment or one-on-one interviews on this subject or anything connected with a betting market – for more information please contact [email protected] o
