Road to the Cheltenham Festival 2025 – 2 weeks to go

It’s that time of year again, where we look ahead to the Cheltenham Gold Cup Festival in March and with two months before the feature race, here is our first post of the year!

For those who haven’t followed Severn Sport during the run up to and the Festival itself, our coverage includes posts at 8, 4 2 and 1 week to go markers, as well as a Tipster League during Festival week – where figures from football in Gloucestershire compete to be crowned our King Tipster.

In January, Severn Sport’s Ryan Butler was joined by Tipster League veteran, Damon Highet, and Slimbridge Co-Manager, Tom Deakin, for our first preview post, where the boys looked at their Best and Worst Priced Favourites and Longshots.

Then, last week the trio looked at Two Horses and One Race to watch in the run up to the big week.

At the 2 weeks to go mark, the finish is in sight and the trio are joined by Michael Hedley-Ward, who is better known as The Fox in the Tipster League and the gents pick their antepost Lucky 15s.

A Lucky 15 is a combination bet that sees four selections picked. A customer is placing 15 bets (singles, doubles, trebles and a four fold) at a unit stake – 30 bets if opting for an each way bet.

For this post, the guys are given either a £1 win L15 or a 50p each way L15 (both total £15) and based on which type they pick we should see different selections and races included.

As always, Severn Sport encourages everyone to bet responsibly and the prices below are taken from SkyBet at the time of writing, so are subject to change.

As always, Tom Deakin kicks us off.

TD: My aim in a Lucky 15 is to find a couple of shorter prices to go alongside two slightly bigger prices to increase the overall pot.

East India Dock (Triumph Hurdle – Friday 14 March) – 15/8
Fugitif (Plate Handicap Chase – Thursday 13 March) – 14/1
The New Lion (Turners Novices’ Hurdle – Wednesday 12 March) – 5/2
Teahupoo (Stayers Hurdle – Thursday 13 March) – 5/6

£1 win Lucky 15 returns: £789.50

Next up is Damon Highet:

DH: What I look for, based on the selections below, value, form, value big field handicaps, value, avoid the favourite and value! Two out of three favourites don’t win, so the odds are really in your favour – value is always on offer in those bigger fields and gives you a chance to turn pennies and pounds into hundreds and thousands!

Katate Dori (Ultima Handicap Chase – Tuesday 11 March) – 8/1
Joyeux Machin (Coral Cup – Wednesday 12 March) – 16/1
Gwennie May Boy (Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle – Thursday 13 March) – 9/1
Jet Blue (Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle – Friday 14 March) – 10/1

50p each way Lucky 15 returns: £12,021.27

The Fox makes his debut in this year’s preview:

MW: I like to try and pick three fairly fancied horses and then add a longer shot to potentially pick up a place or in some cases pick up the pieces in the event of a shock – it acts as a nice kicker to the final returns.

Romeo Coolio (Supreme Novices Hurdle – Tuesday 11 March) – 5/1
Marine Nationale (Queen Mother Champion Chase – Wednesday 12 March) – 8/1
Home By The Lee (Stayers Hurdle – Thursday 13 March) – 6/1
L’Homme Presse (Cheltenham Gold Cup – Friday 14 March) – 16/1

50p each way Lucky 15 returns: £5,128.86

Lastly, Butler gives his views on his antepost Lucky 15:

RB: For me, Lucky 15s can be split into two types. Firstly, you have the shorter prices that lean towards the “win” bets, but I love an each way L15 with four 10/1+ shots where you can pick up a good return from 3 or 4 places. And with the entry lists shortening for some of the bigger fields, you can get some really good value at the “non-runner no bet” stage.

Monmiral (Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle – Thursday 13 March) – 16/1
Ryan’s Rocket (Jack Richards Novices Handicap Chase – Thursday 13 March) – 33/1
Jazzy Matty (Grand Annual Handicap Chase – Wednesday 12 March) – 10/1
Henrys Friend (Ultima Handicap Chase – Tuesday 11 March) – 10/1

50p each way Lucky 15 returns: £45,716.76

Next week we will have one final preview post before the launch of the 2025 Tipster League – including new teams, returning tipsters and a change to the boosts!