Festival Floodgates Open as Bet365 Introduce Non-runner No-Bet
The latest round of Cheltenham Festival trial races is complete. Only one more set – incorporating the Festival Trials Day at the home of jumps racing in late January and the two-days Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown at the beginning of February – remain.
Allaho is entered in the Ryanair Chase, Gold Cup and Champion Chase at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival. ©GettyImages
Connections of many Festival fancies have indicated their star horses will go directly to the 2024 Festival. It means this is an ideal time for bookmakers to introduce their Non-Runner No-Bet concession. This year Bet365 has been the first to open the floodgates. We found in our review of Betfred sports betting that they followed a close second and others are sure to follow suit very soon.
The Concession Explained
The Non-Runner No-Bet offer gained massive popularity in 2015 when Willie Mullins had a massive squad for the Cheltenham Festival with many horses holding multiple entries. He finished the meeting with a record eight winners.
Preceding a traditional Ante-Post arrangement – whereby if you back a horse that does not run your money is lost – Non-Runner No-Bet markets return the stakes on non-runners in specified races.
From now, if you back a horse in the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase, Ryanair Chase, Stayers’ Hurdle or Gold Cup that does not run, Bet365 will return your stakes.
Will There Be a Re-Match in the Champion?
The first favorite amongst these championship races that could come under the microscope is Shishkin. Unbeaten in all six chase starts and winner of the Arkle Novices’ Chase at last year’s Festival, the eight-year-old Champion Chase candidate is one of 11 entries in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot on January 22nd.
Another entry in that contest is the Irish-trained Energumene. Unbeaten in his five chases, he won the Ryainair Novices’ Chase at the Punchestown Festival last season. This could be a mouthwatering clash. And should one rival comprehensively outpoint the other, punters might find themselves grateful of the Non-Runner No-Bet Cheltenham Festival concession as their contender might be re-routed to an easier assignment.
Sweet on Honeysuckle
Honeysuckle is 4/6 in the Bet365 Non-Runner No-Bet Champion Hurdle market. The defending champion with an unbeaten sequence of 13 is yet to be seen this season.
The Irish star is entered in the Irish Champion Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival. It is a race she will attempt to win for a third successive year.
Defeat is very unlikely but should the unthinkable happen, the Henry de Bromhead-trained mare could be re-routed to the Mares Hurdle at the Festival.
Ryanair and Gold Cup Puzzle
The Stayers Hurdle is an interesting market with Champ trading as Bet365s 7/2 second favorite in the Non-Runner No-Bet market. But the 2020 RSA Novices’ Chase winner could contest the Gold Cup for the second consecutive year. He is 14/1 in that market.
Many Gold Cup entries have alternative engagements. 3/1 favorite A Plus Tard, 8/1 shot Tornado Flyer and Asterion Forlonge could all conceivably skip the race to contest the Ryanair Chase.
Defending champion Allaho is Bet365s current 7/4 Ryanair Chase favorite but he is also entered in the Gold Cup and Champion Chase. This explains why Non-Runner No-Bet is such an important tool in any punter’s armory.
