Cheltenham Festival Glossary: 40 Betting and Racing Terms Explained

Terms are grouped: betting first, then race types and conditions, then the course and the going, then Festival-specific vocabulary. Where a definition rests on a number, the number is the verified one used throughout this site. Race conditions (which races are novice, juvenile, mares' or Premier Handicap events) are taken from our race database and will be checked against the official 2027 conditions when published — hence the in progress fact-check status.

Betting terms

• Accumulator — A single bet on several selections in different races where the winnings from each roll on to the next. All selections must win for the bet to pay; a four-selection accumulator is a four-fold.
• Ante-post — A bet placed before final declarations, at a price that reflects the uncertainty over whether the horse will run. The stake is lost if the horse does not run unless the bet was taken under non-runner no bet terms. See the ante-post guide.
• Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) — A bookmaker concession under which a bet taken at a fixed price is settled at the bigger of that price and the starting price.
• Decimal odds — Odds expressed as the total return per unit staked, stake included: 5/1 is 6.00, evens is 2.00. See how odds work.
• Drifter — A horse whose price is lengthening in the market. The opposite of a steamer.
• Each-way — Two bets of equal stake: one on the horse to win, one on it to place. A £5 each-way bet costs £10. The place part pays at a fraction of the win odds set by the place terms. See each-way betting.
• Evens (EVS) — Odds of 1/1: a £1 stake wins £1 profit. Prices shorter than evens are odds-on.
• Favourite (f, jf, cf) — The shortest-priced horse in a race. Two horses sharing the shortest price are joint-favourites (jf); three or more are co-favourites (cf). Gaelic Warrior won the 2026 Gold Cup at 11/4 jf.
• Fractional odds — The traditional British format: profit relative to stake. 5/1 means £5 profit for every £1 staked, plus the stake returned.
• Implied probability — The chance a price implies, calculated as 1 divided by the decimal odds. 5/1 (6.00) implies 16.7%.
• Lucky 15 — Four selections combined into 15 bets: four singles, six doubles, four trebles and a four-fold.
• NAP — A tipster's most confident selection of the day. An opinion with a label, not a guarantee.
• Non-runner — A declared horse that does not take part. Day-of-race bets on it are refunded; ante-post bets are refunded only under NRNB.
• Non-runner no bet (NRNB) — Terms under which the stake is refunded if the selection does not run. Standard on day-of-race markets; offered on some ante-post markets, usually at slightly shorter prices.
• Overround — The amount by which the implied probabilities of every runner in a market add up to more than 100%. It is the bookmaker's margin. Three runners at evens, 2/1 and 3/1 total 108.3%.
• Place terms — The fraction of the win odds paid on the place part of an each-way bet, and the number of places paid. Standard scale: 5–7 runners 1/4 odds 2 places; 8 or more 1/5 odds 3 places; handicaps of 12–15 runners 1/4 odds 3 places; handicaps of 16 or more 1/4 odds 4 places.
• Rule 4 — A deduction from winnings when a horse is withdrawn after the market has formed, scaled to the withdrawn horse's price: from 90p in the pound for a horse at 1/9 or shorter to 5p for one at 10/1 to 14/1, with no deduction above 14/1.
• Starting price (SP) — The official odds at the off, at which results are recorded. Home By The Lee's 33/1 SP in the 2026 Stayers' Hurdle is an SP.
• Steamer — A horse whose price is shortening because money is coming for it. A description of the market, not a prediction.
• Taking a price — Betting at the fixed odds displayed at the time rather than at SP. With BOG you get the better of the two.

Race types and conditions

• Bumper — A National Hunt Flat race, run without obstacles, for horses being introduced to jumps racing. The Champion Bumper on Wednesday is the Festival's Grade 1 bumper.
• Chase (steeplechase) — A race over fences, which are larger and stiffer than hurdles. The Gold Cup and Champion Chase are chases.
• Championship races — The four races that give each day its feature: the Champion Hurdle (Tuesday), Queen Mother Champion Chase (Wednesday), Stayers' Hurdle (Thursday) and Gold Cup (Friday).
• Conditional jockey — A young jump jockey who has not yet ridden a set number of winners and receives a weight allowance. The Martin Pipe, the last race of the Festival, is restricted to conditional jockeys.
• Declarations — The stage at which connections confirm a horse will run. Final declarations for Festival races are made 48 hours before the race, after which the field is set and ante-post markets close.
• Grade 1, 2, 3 — The tiers of the top jumps races, Grade 1 being the highest. The championship races and the main novice races at the Festival are Grade 1.
• Handicap — A race in which each horse carries a weight set by the handicapper according to its Official Rating, so that in theory all have an equal chance. From 2025 the Turners Novices' Chase, National Hunt Chase and Cross Country Chase are handicaps.
• Hurdle — A race over hurdles, the smaller, more flexible obstacles. The Champion Hurdle and Stayers' Hurdle are hurdle races.
• Juvenile — A four-year-old in jumps racing. The Triumph Hurdle is the juvenile hurdling championship.
• Mares' races — Races restricted to female horses: the Mares' Hurdle, Mares' Novices' Hurdle and Mares' Chase at the Festival.
• Novice — A horse in its first season over the relevant obstacle type. The Supreme, Arkle, Turners, Brown Advisory, Albert Bartlett and Triumph are the Festival's Grade 1 novice races.
• Official Rating (OR) — The handicapper's numerical assessment of a horse's ability, used to allocate weights in handicaps. A higher rating means more weight.
• Premier Handicap — The top tier of handicap at the Festival, including the Ultima, Coral Cup, Grand Annual, Pertemps Final, Plate and County Hurdle.
• Stayer — A horse whose strength is stamina over longer distances. The Stayers' Hurdle (2m 7f 213y) and Gold Cup (3m 2f 70y) are the Festival's championship tests of stamina.

The course and the going

• Cheltenham Hill — The uphill finish common to every Cheltenham course. Sources disagree on its exact elevation, so we do not publish a figure.
• Cross Country course — The course inside the main track, with banks, ditches, rails and the "cheese wedges" introduced in November 2009. Cross-country racing at Cheltenham dates from 1995.
• Going — The official description of the ground on the scale Firm, Good to Firm, Good, Good to Soft, Soft, Heavy (with Hard used rarely), often combined as in "Soft, Heavy in places". Soft has been the opening-day description at four of the last five Festivals. See the going explainer.
• New Course — The configuration used on Thursday and Friday: more galloping, with a longer run-in, only two flights in the final seven furlongs of two-mile hurdle races, and a tricky downhill fence.
• Old Course — The configuration used on Tuesday and Wednesday: sharper and tighter, with an earlier turn for home.

Festival vocabulary

• Cheltenham roar — The noise from the stands as the tape rises for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, the first race of the Festival on Tuesday.
• Prestbury Cup — The Ireland-versus-Britain count of Festival winners by trainer's country, formalised in 2014. Ireland won 15–13 in 2026, its seventh in a row. See the Prestbury Cup explainer.
• Trials — Races earlier in the season used by connections as preparation for a Festival target, and by the market as evidence. A good trial run typically shortens a horse's ante-post price.

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