The November Meeting 2026 Betting Odds & Offers

2026 November Meeting Betting

The November meeting is one of the biggest in the National Hunt calendar, with some of the best horses flocking to Cheltenham Racecourse to compete in some high-profile races. It's great to bet on each of the encounters at a venue which will host the Cheltenham Festival later in March. You can place wagers on races such as the Paddy Power Gold Cup and Greatwood Handicap Hurdle.

Day One - Countryside Day - Friday 13 November

Day One of the November Meeting features six different races and there are several high-profile encounters. That includes a couple of Grade 2 encounters, with the Shloer Steeplechase seeing the runners compete over two miles. We've seen Jonbon land a victory in the 2023 and 2024 renewal, with L'eau du Sud being the 2025 champion.

On Day One, we also have the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle which is another Grade 2 encounter. This is over two miles about five furlongs, with punters also being able to enjoy a couple of other handicap encounters. The racing starts with the AIS Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle Race, with the Paddy Power Novices' Chase being a listed race which will attract plenty of quality entries.

Day Two - Super Saturday - Saturday 14 November

Racegoers attending the Super Saturday will be able to enjoy seven different races. The action starts with the CITIPOST Amateur Jockeys Handicap Steeple Chase before moving on to the JCB Triumph Hurdle Trial. The latter is a Grade 2 encounter and it's an ideal chance to see which horses will rock up at the Festival equivalent down the line, with Scriptwriter, Burdett Road and East India Dock among the most recent winners.

There's also the Paddy Power Arkle Challenge Trophy Trial Novices' Steeple Chase over two miles before the Paddy Power Gold Cup. This is the big race of the meeting, with the runners and riders competing over two miles and four furlongs. Stage Star, Il Ridoto and Panic Attack are the last three winners and it will be interesting to see how the market pans out for the 2026 renewal.

The betting market is starting to take shape for the 2026 Paddy Power Gold Cup, with Blueking D'Oroux, Madara and Meetmebythesea among the market leaders. This is traditionally a great each-way betting race where you can take any of the horses in the field and get rewarded if they place.

Day Three - Carnival Sunday - Sunday 15 November

Carnival Sunday is the perfect way to end the November Meeting. There's a Premier Handicap in the form of the Greatwood Hurdle, with this being a handicap encounter which is run over roughly two miles. Idaho Sun has emerged as the warm favourite for this Sunday encounter, with Harry Lowes, Let It Rain and Helnwein among the market leaders.

This is the penultimate race on the card, although the action really gets going at 12.50pm in a Class 2 Maiden Hurdle. There is also a Handicap Chase over two miles and four furlongs, with some talented novices battling it out over the undulating track. There's then the Three Counties Christmas Handicap Chase over about two miles, with a handicap steeplechase also giving punters the chance to try and pick out a winner.

Racing Highlights

The November Meeting takes place in mid-November, with three days of great racing betting running from Friday to Sunday. The opening day is Countryside Day and aims to raise funds and awareness for the Countryside Alliance and Racing Welfare. The Saturday and Sunday are known as Super Saturday and Carnival Sunday.

The racing action cannot rival that of the Cheltenham Festival, but then what can?

The racing is good enough on the Friday but the meeting really steps up a gear at the weekend with a raft of Grade 2 and Grade 3 races. Several of the races at the November Meeting are early season trials for the big races at the Festival the following March.

For real horse racing betting aficionados, these races are hugely interesting and if you like ante post betting in particular, paying attention to these contests can be very profitable. Ante post betting can offer some big racing odds and - if you get on early - the rewards can be handsome if you call things right.

The feature race of the three days is the Paddy Power Gold Cup, and the sizeable field is usually of the highest calibre. However, there is a decent range of races at this three-day meeting, with handicaps, hurdles, bumpers and chases over a range of distances from two miles to well over three miles.

Betting Pointers and Tips

In many ways, the November Meeting is about tips and pointers for the Festival the following spring. A number of huge stars first showed their ability at this festival and over the three days there are several Festival trials.

For example, Best Mate and Dodging Bullets both won the Racing Post Arkle Trophy Trial Novices' Chase as five year olds. Future Gold Cup winner Coneygree won the Hyde Novices' Hurdle and both Cue Card and Altior won the Sharp Novices' Hurdle (known as the Sky Bet Supreme Trial Novices' Hurdle).

That said, if you're looking for winners at the November Meeting itself, there are certain things worth bearing in mind. As ever, making sure you get the best available betting odds on anything you back is the easiest way to improve your overall results. We have odds comparison for all the races over the three days so don't miss out.

It's also worth looking out for previous course form, because some horses can be overwhelmed by the noise and scale of the crowds at Cheltenham. As ever there are various trainer, horse and jockey trends to look out for.

Trainer trends can be especially interesting with this event coming early in the season and on that note Philip Hobbs is certainly one to look out for. The Somerset handler has a fantastic record here over the last six years, especially on the Friday!

The November Meeting - A Rose by Any Other Name

The Open, as it was then known, was first held almost 20 years ago in the year 2000 and has been viewed as the first big jumps meeting of the National Hunt season since its inauguration. In 2017, after consultation between Cheltenham and the R&A (golf's governing body), it was decided to change the name of the race meeting to avoid a clash of brands and marketing.

We suppose given golf's Open has been around for almost 160 years it was only fair they got to keep the title. However, call it what you will, the November Meeting remains a key landmark on the calendar of those who like to bet on jumps racing.

Jumps racing can be held year-round at tracks like Cartmel but the season is usually deemed to run from mid-October to the end of April. However, whilst things get underway in October, it is Cheltenham's November meeting that really kicks things off in style.

Adding nice symmetry to proceedings, the Cheltenham Festival in mid-March starts the winding down of jumps racing, with Aintree's Grand National and a couple of other notable late-season exceptions.

This meeting is very family friendly, with lots for non-racing fans, such as music, markets and children's activities. Those at the racecourse realised that the track's main Festival was a huge event and very popular. So in order to create a similar event at the opposite end of the season made sense, with a number of long-standing races brought together.

Whilst no races have been created specifically for The Open/November Meeting, over the years one or two classier events were brought under its umbrella, helping it go from strength to strength and become Cheltenham's second most important meeting.