The Ryanair Chase – Our Betting Guide

Posted by Harry Kane on Tuesday, May 24, 2022

The 2024 iteration of the iconic Cheltenham Festival will take place between Tuesday, March 14th and Friday, March 17th, with 28 races being hosted across four frenetic days of action. Each race will take place at the world-famous Cheltenham Racecourse, with the standout even being the Gold Cup (which sees the winner bank a cool £351,688).

The Ryanair Chase is the festival’s fourth most lucrative race, with the winner of this event earning an impressive £211,013. This race is run at the new Cheltenham course and over a distance of just over two miles and four furlongs, while it’s open to runners aged five years and upwards and features a grand total of 17 challenging fences.

In this comprehensive betting guide, we’re going to take a closer look at the 2024 Ryanair Chase, including an overview of the current favourites and some expert betting tips to help you get the absolute most out of your bankroll, let’s get into it!

The Ryanair Chase – A Brief History

The Ryanair Chase is a Grade 1 National Hunt steeplechase race, and as we say, this was introduced at the Cheltenham Festival back in 2005. This race was added to the event when the festival was extended to include a fourth day, with this revamped event replacing the similar Cathcart Challenge Cup (which has previously been restricted to just first and second-season chasers).

The registered, non-sponsored title of the race is the Festival Trophy, while it was given Grade 2 classification during its previous incarnations. However, it was subsequently elevated to Grade 1 in 2008, and after the Daily Telegraph sponsored the first ever iteration of the race, Ryanair assumed sponsorship duties the following year and have retained these ever since.

The Ryanair Chase has proven to be a challenging event in its relatively brief history, with just two horses having prevailed more than once. Interestingly, both of these runners achieved this in consecutive years, with Albertas Run triumphing in 2010 and 2011 and Allaho replicating this feat in 2021 and 2022. Interestingly, Allaho will be unable to complete a hattrick of wins in 2024 due to injury, but we’ll touch more on this a little later in the piece.

Willie Mullins remains the race’s most successful trainer, with his runners having won the last three iterations and five of the last seven overall. Mullins successfully trained Allaho and 2020 winner Min, for example, while he also earned successive victories in 2016 and 2017 with Vautour and Un De Sceaux respectively.

Ruby Walsh remains the most successful jockey in the race’s history, riding both Vautour and Un De Sceaux to success in 2016 and 2017. He also rode Thisthatandtother to the finishing line ahead of his competitors in 2005, before winning with Taranis two years later.

In terms of logistics, the 2024 iteration of the Ryanair Chase is scheduled to take place on Thursday, 16th March, with the runners expected to be under starters’ orders at 14:50. The total prize fund in play this year will be £375,000, and as we’ve touched on, more than half of this will go the runner that emerges victorious at the end of the race.

Who are the Ante Post Outright Favourites?

We’re going to provide some insightful betting tips a little later in the piece, but first we thought we’d preview the 2024 Ryanair Chase by looking at a few of the key runners and riders. Below, you’ll find three potential betting options with variable odds and implied probabilities, along with some insight into each runner’s recent form.

The Short Price Favourites – Shiskin to Win at 8/11

We’ll start with the current odds-on favourite Shiskin, who has returned from significant injuries and physical issues in recent times and will arrive at Cheltenham in search of true redemption. Certainly, he has enjoyed a stellar career to date, winning eight of his 10 chase events and placing third in another. This run also includes his infamous pull-up at Cheltenham last March, which precipitated a 262-day absence from competition with a rare bone condition and flipped palate.

The nine-year-old Nicky Henderson-trained gelding has also sparkled since his return, initially securing a third-place finish over one mile and seven furlongs at Sandown in December last year. He subsequently blitzed the field at the Betfair Ascot Chase on February 18th, claiming a stunning win that suggested he’s ready to prevail at Cheltenham once again.

His recent performance at Ascot was a far cry from his disappointing showings at the 2022 Champion Chase and Tingle Creek, which saw Shiskin begin to show signs of his physical injuries. Having been entered into the Ryanair Chase ahead of the Gold Cup, it’s little wonder that he’s odds-on to win at an average price of 8/11, but this offers minimal value when betting with a small stake and isn’t reflective of the field’s open and competitive nature in the absence of Allaho.

The Best Value Bet – Blue Lord at 11/2

Depending on who you bet with, either Conflated or Blue Lord is the second favourite to win the Ryanair Chase in 2024, with the former trained by Gordon Elliott and highly thought of following his Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup win at Leopardstown in December. Conflated is another who’s being entered into the Ryanair Chase ahead of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which is no real surprise as he happens to be owned by Ryanair supremo Michael O’Leary.

However, Blue Lord is arguably in better form and offers superior value at an average price of 5/1, although he’s currently priced as high as 11/2 with Unibet. This eight-year-old gelding has won three of his last four races since April 2022, while his second-place finish at the Grade 1 Dublin Chase at Leopardstown in February was a truly outstanding run.

Blue Lord is also trained by Willie Mullins, who as we’ve already touched on, has delivered five winners in the last seven Ryanair Chase outings. Over the course of his career, Blue Lord has also won six out of eight chase races over a similar distance, while placing in the top three in the other two outings. These are impressive statistics, while it should be noted that his live price is likely to drift and shorten slightly as the race draws closer.

The Best Outside Bet – Janidil at 15/2

Nine-year-old Janidil is another exceptional if easy to overlook runner competing at this years’ Ryanair Chase, while the Willie Mullins-trained gelding also has form in this particular event. More specifically, he placed second in the 2022 Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham, and though he trailed Allaho by 14 lengths, at the end, this had more to do with the brilliance of the winner than his own shortcomings.

So, he has form at Cheltenham and won last time out over two miles and four furlongs at Gowran Park in February, beating fellow Ryanair Chase 2024 runner and current 12/1 shot Haut En Couleurs in the process. Overall, Janidil has won three of 12 chase races and placed in the top three in eight of these outings, so he has more than enough pedigree to challenge this year.

Interestingly, you can get on Janidil to win at an average price of 15/2 in the 2024 Ryanair Chase, which offers considerable value given his experience and form at Cheltenham Racecourse. Once again, however, this price is likely to shorten before the race commences, so it may be worth placing your wager sooner rather than later if you’re to optimise your returns.

What are the Best Ryanair Chase Betting Tips?

Now that you understand the Ryanair Chase field in a little more detail, it’s time to look at how you can leverage these betting markets through smart and strategic thinking. To help you on your way, we’ve prepared some expert betting tips and strategies that should deliver more bang for your buck when betting on this race (and the Cheltenham Festival as a whole).

#1. Manage Your Bankroll Carefully

Whenever you’re betting on a single event or race, you should have a clear plan of how much you intend to wager as part of a wider bankroll management strategy. This ensures that you can comfortably wager within your means, while placing bets on other Cheltenham Festival races as you see fit.

Broadly speaking, your total bankroll should never exceed an amount that you can comfortably afford to lose as a punter, while this sum of money should also relate to a fixed period of time. For example, you can create a bankroll to cover a single week or month, usually depending on how frequently you’re paid and your other outgoings.

You can also use the tools available at sportsbooks to control and manage your bankroll. For example, all licensed operators make so-called “deposit limits” available to their customers, which enable them to cap their deposits according to daily, weekly and monthly thresholds. Once again, these can be used according to your precise circumstances, ensuring that you cannot wager beyond your means at a single sportsbooks.

#2. Study the Form in Detail

We’ve already spoken about the best value bets and key runners ahead of the 2024 Ryanair Chase, but it’s crucial that you study the relevant form in comprehensive detail before placing your wagers. This involves taking a look at all competing runners too, as some unfancied horses may have excellent form in particular conditions or over certain distances.

This is an excellent way of identifying the best value in the odds that are presented, as even sportsbooks may occasionally misprice potential outcomes and overlook key bits of data. Of course, extended odds translate into higher returns, while enabling you to wager less without compromising too much on the final payout.

Obviously, it’s crucial that you focus primarily on each runner’s form in chase and hurdle races, while paying attention to distance over which they tend to perform best in. We’d recommend that you also appraise the quality of the competing field in the races that you study, so that you can consider each win or performance in its proper context.

#3. Consider Cheltenham Accumulators

Accumulator or “acca” betting is synonymous with horse racing, with this type of wager featuring anywhere between six and 20 selections in a single wager. Each of these selected outcomes must occur if the accumulator is to deliver a return, unless you wager with a sportsbook that offers ‘acca insurance’ and provides some protection in instances where one of your selections is unsuccessful.

Given the profile of the Cheltenham Festival and the number of races featured, it makes sense to build an accumulator bet that incorporates different outcomes from the Ryanair Chase, the Gold Cup and similar events. This way, you can select short price favourites and runners that are likely to win without compromising on your final return, as the odds of each selection are multiplied together in an accumulator to create a single, extended price.

Ideally, we’d recommend structuring your acca to include between six and eight selections, as this helps you to strike the ideal balance between risk and reward. Remember, a total of 28 races take place across four days of action at the Cheltenham Festival, so you’ll also need to be selective when targeting events and highlighting potential winners.

The Last Word

So, there you have it, our comprehensive guide to the upcoming Ryanair Chase. This is the fourth-most lucrative race at the iconic Cheltenham Festival, while the 2024 iteration is set to feature a number of runners who were also considered for the Gold Cup. This years’ race is also likely to be one of the most open and keenly contested in years, especially with the 2021 and 2022 winner Allaho missing through injury.

Hopefully, this guide will help you to understand the key betting markets and best value odds, while offering some insight on how to wager responsibly while also prioritizing potential returns. If you have any questions at all, fell free to contact us and our expert team will be more than happy to help!