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What is Jump racing?

Jump racing, also known as National Hunt racing, is the discipline of horse racing in which, at least in the majority of cases, participants are required to negotiate a series of obstacles, in the form of hurdles or fences. However, in a so-called ‘National Hunt Flat Race’, colloquially known as a ‘bumper’, which is confined to younger horses with little or no racing experience, no obstacles are involved.

National Hunt races are staged over distances between two miles and four-and-a-quarter miles. Hurdles consist of a series of lightweight, brushwood panels driven into the ground at an angle, to create an obstacle at least 3’1″ high and 30′ wide. Fences are more substantial obstacles, consisting of a rigid frame filled with birch switches, natural or artificial, to a height of at least 4’6″. National Hunt horses often begin their careers over hurdles before graduating to fences, but can alternate between disciplines without restriction, subject to individual race conditions.

Traditionally, the National Hunt racing season ran from the Charlie Hall Meeting at Wetherby in late October or early November to the Jump Finale at Sandown Park in late April, but the introduction of so-called ‘Summer Jumping’ at certain racecourses means that, nowadays, National Hunt racing takes place pretty much all year ’round. Highlights of the National Hunt season include the Cheltenham Festival, staged annually in March and, of course, the Grand National Festival at Aintree, staged annually in April.

What is a maiden race?

In simple terms, a maiden race is a horse race in which none of the participants have won in that specific discipline at any recognised race meeting anywhere in the world. Maiden races come in various ‘flavours’, including handicaps, conditions and weight-for-age races, and are run on the Flat and under National Hunt Rules. However, horses often progress from one discipline to another – for example, from Flat racing to hurdling, or from hurdling to steeplechasing – during their careers, so specific rules apply to each discipline.

On the Flat, horses that have won a National Hunt Flat race are still eligible for maiden races, but horses that have previously run on the Flat are ineligible for National Hunt Flat races, maiden or otherwise, regardless of whether or not they have previously won a race. Over hurdles and fences, horses that have won a National Hunt race are ineligible for maiden races, as are those that have won a steeplechase at a point-to-point meeting.

Granted that less than half of racehorses ever win a race, it is not unusual to read in the racing press that so-and-so is a ‘long-standing’ maiden. Eligibility for some maiden races is based on age or sex, but so-called ‘all-aged’ maiden races are typically open to any horse aged four years and upwards provided, of course, that is has yet to shed its maiden tag. Some horses never do, and develop a cult following as they continue, year-after-year, without winning a race. Steeplechaser Quixall Crossett, for example, went to post 103 times in his career, but the best he ever managed was two second-place finishes.

What is an accumulator?

An accumulator is a popular form of multiple bet or, in other words, a single bet on multiple selections, in different races, which is successful if, and only if, all selections win. The term ‘accumulator’ is typically reserved for bets involving four or more selections; bets involving two or three selections operate on the same principal, but are usually known as ‘doubles’ or ‘trebles’.

Regardless of the number of selections, the idea is that the winnings from the first selection, including the original stake, roll over onto the second selection and so on, until the bet is complete or one of the selections loses. An accumulator is, by nature, an ‘all or nothing’ bet, but it is possible to combine selections in such a way that a return is due if, say, four, five or six win. Six selections, for example, could be combined in 15 four-fold accumulators, six five-fold accumulators and one six-fold accumulator. Of course, each accumulator requires its own individual stake, so the viability of such an approach, ecomonically, depends on the odds available for each selection and your attitude to risk.

The history of horse racing is awash with stories of punters who have won vast sums of money – hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of pounds – for a small initial outlay with accumulators of one form or another. However, an accumulator, of any kind, involves betting at multiple odds, so udnerstand what you are attempting before parting with your hard-earned cash.

What is the Cheltenham Gold Cup?

Strictly speaking, the Cheltenham Gold Cup is the trophy presented to the winning owner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase, a Grade One, weight-for-age steeplechase run over three miles and two-and-a-half furlongs at the Cheltenham Festival in March each year. However, the term ‘Cheltenham Gold Cup’ is typically used to refer to the iconic steeplechase known, in some quarters, as the ‘Blue Riband’ of steeplechasing.

Inaugurated, as a steeplechase, in 1924, the Cheltenham Gold Cup has increased in value and prestige down the years. Indeed, with total prize money of £625,000 it is, nowadays, the most valuable steeplechase of its kind in and, along with the Grand National, one of the two most celebrated steeplechases in the British National Hunt calendar.

It would be fair to say that the roll of honour for the Cheltenham Gold Cup reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of staying chasing talent since the early twentieth century. In fact, according to Timeform, of the ten highest-rated steeplechasers since the early Sixties, no fewer than six – namely, in order of preference, Arkle, Mill House, Kauto Star, Desert Orchid, Burrough Hill Lad and Long Run – won the Cheltenham Gold Cup at least once. Arkle, the highest-rated steeplechaser of all time, according to Timeform, won the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times, in 1964, 1965 and 1966; on the third occasion, he beat five rivals by thirty lengths and upwards at odds of 1/10, thereby becoming the shortest-priced winner in the history of the race.

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