Cheltenham Ante Post Competition 2014-15 (for the Alan Morgan Trophy)
This year's competition will start on Saturday week, 1 November. It is free to enter and open to all.
The main prize of £150 and Tout Seul's trophy, named after Alan Morgan,will be for the person whose ante post bets on the Festival make the most profit.
The second prize of £50 will be for the most valuable portfolio of bets at the end of February, in other words the portfolio of bets whose odds have shortened the most in price since being placed.
Many thanks to Grasshopper for putting up the cash prizes and I'm pleased to say New Approach will be doing the scoring once again.
There will also be a £100 prize for the Ten To Follow competition being run by Diamond Geezer and a further £100 'grey winter prize' for the best aggregate performance between the two competitions.
But hold your fire until next week, any bets posted before the competition gets under way will be void.
The competition rules are set out below, to be printed and learned by heart or tattooed on an accessible part of your anatomy if preferred.
Competition Rules
1. The competition will open for entries on Saturday 1 November and close on Saturday 28 Feb 2015. New entrants will be accepted at any time between these dates.
2. Two prizes will be awarded, one of £150 and a trophy to the person whose bets generate the most winnings, and one of £50 to the person whose portfolio has the highest notional value on 28 Feb.
3. Participants will have a separate bank for each month of the competition as follows:
November - £1000
December - £1000
January - £1000
February - £2000
4. The bank for each month can only be used during the month to which it refers.
5. Bets can be placed on the ante post market for any race at the Cheltenham Festival with any bookmaker displayed on oddschecker.com. Bets on a horse "to win any race" at the Festival are also permitted
6. Only single or each way bets will be accepted; multiple and other types of bet are excluded.
7. The minimum bet size is 10% of the monthly bank, i.e. £100/£50ew in November, December and January and £200/£100ew in February.
8. The maximum amount allowed on any one horse in any one race is £1,500. Bets on a horse in the "to win any festival race" market count towards this maximum.
9. There is no limit on the number of horses that can be backed, but only ten selections will count for scoring purposes.
10. Participants can indicate on or before the cut-off date of 28 Feb which selections they want to include in their final portfolio, otherwise the ten most recent will be chosen by default.
11. If a horse is separately backed for more than one race, each will count as a separate selection for the purposes of rules 9, 10 and 13. However, a horse backed in the "to win any race" market will count as just one selection.
12. The winner of the main prize will be the person whose final portfolio of bets generates the highest winnings. Bets will be settled according to normal ante post rules, but only the winnings will be counted.
13. The secondary prize will go to the portfolio which on 1st March has the highest 'notional value'. This is the total sum one would need to wager, taking the best available odds on 1st March 2015, to achieve the same potential winnings as the bets in the portfolio. (In simpler terms, bets on horses whose odds shorten during the winter gain value, while bets on drifters lose value).
14. The organisers will have the right to clarify, modify or add to the rules as they deem appropriate.
This year's competition will start on Saturday week, 1 November. It is free to enter and open to all.
The main prize of £150 and Tout Seul's trophy, named after Alan Morgan,will be for the person whose ante post bets on the Festival make the most profit.
The second prize of £50 will be for the most valuable portfolio of bets at the end of February, in other words the portfolio of bets whose odds have shortened the most in price since being placed.
Many thanks to Grasshopper for putting up the cash prizes and I'm pleased to say New Approach will be doing the scoring once again.
There will also be a £100 prize for the Ten To Follow competition being run by Diamond Geezer and a further £100 'grey winter prize' for the best aggregate performance between the two competitions.
But hold your fire until next week, any bets posted before the competition gets under way will be void.
The competition rules are set out below, to be printed and learned by heart or tattooed on an accessible part of your anatomy if preferred.
Competition Rules
1. The competition will open for entries on Saturday 1 November and close on Saturday 28 Feb 2015. New entrants will be accepted at any time between these dates.
2. Two prizes will be awarded, one of £150 and a trophy to the person whose bets generate the most winnings, and one of £50 to the person whose portfolio has the highest notional value on 28 Feb.
3. Participants will have a separate bank for each month of the competition as follows:
November - £1000
December - £1000
January - £1000
February - £2000
4. The bank for each month can only be used during the month to which it refers.
5. Bets can be placed on the ante post market for any race at the Cheltenham Festival with any bookmaker displayed on oddschecker.com. Bets on a horse "to win any race" at the Festival are also permitted
6. Only single or each way bets will be accepted; multiple and other types of bet are excluded.
7. The minimum bet size is 10% of the monthly bank, i.e. £100/£50ew in November, December and January and £200/£100ew in February.
8. The maximum amount allowed on any one horse in any one race is £1,500. Bets on a horse in the "to win any festival race" market count towards this maximum.
9. There is no limit on the number of horses that can be backed, but only ten selections will count for scoring purposes.
10. Participants can indicate on or before the cut-off date of 28 Feb which selections they want to include in their final portfolio, otherwise the ten most recent will be chosen by default.
11. If a horse is separately backed for more than one race, each will count as a separate selection for the purposes of rules 9, 10 and 13. However, a horse backed in the "to win any race" market will count as just one selection.
12. The winner of the main prize will be the person whose final portfolio of bets generates the highest winnings. Bets will be settled according to normal ante post rules, but only the winnings will be counted.
13. The secondary prize will go to the portfolio which on 1st March has the highest 'notional value'. This is the total sum one would need to wager, taking the best available odds on 1st March 2015, to achieve the same potential winnings as the bets in the portfolio. (In simpler terms, bets on horses whose odds shorten during the winter gain value, while bets on drifters lose value).
14. The organisers will have the right to clarify, modify or add to the rules as they deem appropriate.
