We are looking forward to another fantastic three days of racing at the Cheltenham November Meeting 2022. Take a look through what the meeting is all about, what the biggest races are and how to bet on them. We also delve into betting markets for the November meeting, offers, how these races can affect the Cheltenham Festival, and more. Cheltenham will host only the December meeting and Trials Day this side of the Festival, so make sure you don’t miss anything at the famous November fixture. So when is the 2022 Cheltenham November Meeting? It will take place from Friday November 11th – Sunday November 13th.
The November Meeting at Cheltenham is sometimes known as the Open Meeting. It is a fantastic three-day fixture at what it, let’s face it, the very home of National Hunt racing. While in the jumps game all roads lead to the Cheltenham Festival, the season gets going in earnest at this very meet. In terms of the Cheltenham November Meeting dates for 2022, racing runs on Friday 11th, Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th of November.
The Cheltenham November Meeting schedule includes among its 19 races the famous Paddy Power Gold Cup, the Shloer Chase and the Greatwood Hurdle. Prize money in fact tops £900,000 across the weekend.
November Friday features countryside activities. Racing runs from 1.10pm to 4.00pm with the Grade 2 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle being the main event.
Day 2, or November Saturday features an extended seven-race card running from 12.35pm to 4.05. At 2.20, the £160,000 Paddy Power Gold Cup is the main event. November Sunday runs to the same timing as day one, with the highlight this time being the Greatwood Hurdle at 2.55, something preceded by another £100,000 event, the Grade 2 Shloer Chase.
All 19 races at this meeting will be fascinating to watch, however certain events are of major importance to the National Hunt season. This is especially true when keeping one eye on the upcoming Cheltenham Festival.
This Grade 2 novices’ hurdle is run over 2 miles, 5 furlongs and so features some of the top future staying hurdlers in the country. There are 10 hurdles to take across the Old Course with the race being worth £50,000 in total.
In the past, this race has been taken by subsequent Gold Cup winner Coneygree and top-class staying hurdler Thyme Hill. The race is considered to be an excellent early trial for the Ballymore at the Cheltenham Festival, so the result is always under scrutiny.
This race, as the name suggests, is a trial for the Triumph Hurdle and so as such, it is for three-year-olds only. It was previously known as the Prestbury Juvenile Hurdle and is run at Grade 2 level on day two of the meeting. The race takes place over the extended two miles meaning there are the usual eight hurdles to take.
A number of horses who have won this race have gone on to big things, so it does have a good record. The French Furze, Katchit, Defi Du Seuil and Allmankind have all won this and were all considered to be top class.
A Grade 2 novices’ chase over two miles, this year the event is worth £52,000. Runners are tasked with taking on 13 fences of the Old Course and speed will be very much of the essence, assuming at least that the ground isn’t too soft.
This race really does attract the best novices. Not only that, but winners of the race tend to go onto much better things with the likes of three-time Gold Cup winner Best Mate as well as Azertyuiop, Al Ferof and Put The Kettle On having taken the race.
Day 2’s feature race is the £160,000, Grade 3 Paddy Power Gold Cup. The handicap chase features 16 fences over 2½ miles and is one of the top betting races of the whole season. It has a wonderful record for producing future placed horses at the Cheltenham Festival too, so be sure to keep a sharp eye on the result and watch out for any unlucky horses.
The race has tended to suit Cheltenham specialists in years gone by, while those from the top of the handicap to the bottom can do well as all are prepared to the minute to attempt to win the event.
Although run under a sponsor’s name, this is remembered by many as the Cheltenham Chase. Run on day 3 (Sunday), the race is an important Grade 2 event over two miles. An important race in its own right worth some £100,000, The Shloer attracts those being aimed at the Champion Chase being a two-mile event.
Once more, speed is of the essence here so keep that in mind. The race behaves more like a Grade 1 event, recent winners including Sprinter Sacre, Put The Kettle On and Nube Negra.
The Greatwood Hurdle is an extended two-mile event. It is a high-quality Grade 3 race worth £100,000, but can be aimed at by very different types.
As a high-level Grade 3 over two miles, it can be seen as a bona fide Champion Hurdle trial and in fact has been won by horses of the quality of Rooster Booster. As a handicap however, it can be won from the bottom of the weights by a horse laid out for the race who will then be targeted at other handicaps later on.
The Supreme Trial is exactly that, a good trial for March’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. It is worth £50,000 however and is a Grade 2 event previously known as the Sharp Novices’, so can be a target race in its own right. Once more, the form tends to be rock-solid with past winners including Cue Card, Dodging Bullets and Altior.
At the time of writing, the two biggest races of the meeting have ante-post markets attached them. The Paddy Power Gold Cup (Saturday) and the Greatwood Hurdle (Sunday). Trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies has won the Paddy Power Gold Cup four times and his Torn And Frayed is well fancied to make it five. The eight-year-old is a solid chaser, but still has plenty more to offer having only gone five times over fences to date.Torn And Frayed has already won at Cheltenham over 2½ miles in a similarly competitive handicap chase last season and it’ll be no surprise were he to go close.
Another who may go well in the big race is Alex Hales’s Millers Bank. Fancied to go well in Aintree’s Old Roan Chase before unseating at the first fence, he remains well handicapped and is a big-race winner waiting to happen. In the Greatwood, two against the field are First Street and Knappers Hill. The idea here is to take one horse with the right credentials who may have improved significantly since last seen in April, and another who is race fit having won 36 days before this race is due off.
Nicky Henderson’s First Street, a young gelding by Golden Horn, showed very good speed indeed at Cheltenham over 2m1f when he was second in the County Hurdle at the Festival in March. That is excellent form and, given his age and how long he’s been off the track, he will no doubt have improved plenty since then meaning he could be one of the well handicapped horses in the race.
Paul Nicholls trains Knappers Hill, a six-year-old who returned this season in the Silver Trophy at Chepstow. He won that race in some style and undoubtedly has the speed to come back to two miles. He is also unquestionably fit and so could but that bit sharper than a number of others in the race.
While from a sporting point of view this meeting is naturally very important, it is also a major earner for the betting industry. If you are having a Cheltenham November meeting bet, keep the following things in mind:
We can’t stress enough how important it is to get the best value for money for your bet. Use comparison sites if you wish, or shop around manually to make sure you are getting the best price. Alternatively, use bet boosts if available to eke out the biggest potential profit for your November Meeting bets.
You will find a veritable feast of different betting markets available online for every November Meeting race. The most popular markets are:
There are various ways to watch the November Meeting at Cheltenham, depending on how you wish to view.
We do expect to see plenty of viable Cheltenham November Meeting offers from bookmakers as the fixture draws near. Watch out for what is available, the most common offers on the market right now being:
Enhanced Odds come in various forms and are sometimes known as ‘bet boost’ deals. Enhanced odds offers are straightforward and mean you simply get bigger odds on your horse than is shown in the general market.
Extra Places – Many online bookmakers will automatically offer extra each-way places, perhaps 5 or 6 instead of 3 or 4, in major handicaps such as the Paddy Power Gold Cup. In any case, you can choose to take a smaller price about hour horse and add extra places yourself to boost your chances of a successful each-way bet.
Best Odds Guaranteed, also known affectionately as ‘BOG offers’, means the bookmaker paying you out at the biggest price possible. So, if you take odds about your horse and the SP turns out to be bigger, you get paid at the SP. If the SP is smaller, your original price holds.
Money Back Deals are common now, usually coming as a free future bet. If your horse falls or is beaten by a certain horse or by a certain distance, you may be offered your money back.
This is a very important meeting for the National Hunt calendar, especially for Cheltenham Festival. Naturally, a number of horses who run well at this fixture go on to be well fancied at the Festival in March. In the last two meetings alone a number of followed this pattern. In 2020, Adagio ran second in the Triumph Trial Hurdle and went on to fill the same position in the Triumph itself at a big price, rewarding each-way punters.
Last year, Marie’s Rock ran a fair 7th in the Greatwood Hurdle at 28/1, going on to land the Grade 1 Mares’ Hurdle at the Festival at a huge 18/1. Protektorat ran a cracker off a big weight in the 2021 Paddy Power Gold Cup before going on to run third in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, while Plan Of Attack was fourth in the Cross-Country race before running third at 25/1 in the same event at the Festival. Going further back, the likes of Put The Kettle On and The Shunter have also gone on to Cheltenham Festival success.
Your main questions about Cheltenham’s November Meeting answered.
Cheltenham hosts the three-day November Meeting from Friday November 11th – Sunday November 13th.
The Paddy Power Gold Cup is the highlight, run on Saturday. Across three days of the meeting, 19 races take place including the important Greatwood Hurdle.
Yes. Live TV coverage is provided by ITV Racing and Racing TV, while some online bookmakers will be streaming the event too.
Yes. All good online bookmakers will offer odds on every November meeting race, while some are available early as ante-post bets.
For the past 20 years Gary has been immersed in the world of sports writing and betting. His experience, particularly within horse racing, has led to him enjoying a successful career as a punter but also as an SEO specialist. Gary contributes written content for TVG (America’s largest wagering website and horse racing TV network), Mr Green Casino, CasinoEuro and many others. Having written for horse racing magazines, newspapers, and websites as well as having published one book on football betting, Gary has used his knowledge of sports to provide valuable betting tips to punters via apps, telephone and the web.