Leopardstown Festival 2023 Odds & Free Bets

The fact that the Christmas period is now upon us is fantastic news for horse racing fans, with some fabulous cards due to take place on either side of the Irish Sea over the next few days.

Headlining the Irish action is the four-day Christmas Festival at Leopardstown in Dublin, which will feature no less than seven Grade One races.

There are almost certainly going to be plenty of clues for the big spring festivals at Leopardstown, with the feature Grade One Savills Chase serving as one of the main pointers of the season for the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup.

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With so much to sort through, we’ve put together this guide to help you pick out the best Leopardstown Christmas Festival free bet offers and horse racing tips.

With so much competition on the market these days, finding the best betting site for this year’s Leopardstown Christmas Festival can feel like a daunting prospect. To help you out, we’ve narrowed down the field by picking out some horse racing bookmakers who scored highly on the following…

It’s likely that most bookmakers will run some kind of promotion for the Leopardstown Christmas Festival, but some will be better than others. We’ll keep an ear to the ground to ensure that you only see the best betting offers. 

It may seem like a simple thing, but you want to have the most competitive markets available when betting on horse racing. Some bookmakers offer better prices than others, which is something that we monitor closely.   

Security is key when betting with your hard-earned cash, so we will only recommend gambling sites which are properly licensed and regulated. 

Unfortunately, it’s likely that things are occasionally going to go wrong. When you encounter an issue, we want to make sure that you are met by outstanding customer service. 

The Leopardstown is a four-day racing festival, which is held over the festive period at Leopardstown Racecourse in Dublin. The event runs from Tuesday 26 December until Friday 29 December 2023.

The Leopardstown Christmas Festival is gearing up to be an excellent four days of racing over the festive period, with each the big Irish yards set to be represented.

With no less than seven Grade One races across the four days, plus plenty of excellent supporting races on the line-up, there ought to be plenty of chances to find a winner. To help you out, we’ve picked out three horses to watch out for across the four days.

Captain Guinness is one of the most genuine horses in training and rarely runs a bad race, though he has so far had to settle for a supporting role at the very top level – hitting the frame on no less than six occasions in Grade 1 races. 

The eight-year-old enjoyed a fine campaign last term however, finishing a fine second behind Energumene in the Queen Mother Champion Chase last March and backing that up with an equally commendable second behind Jonbon in a top-level contest at Sandown the following month. 

Captain Guinness has since returned with an impressive victory in a Grade 2 contest at Navan last month and he could well have his big day in the sun at Leopardstown, in the Grade One Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase. He could face as many as six rivals at the time of writing, but this looks a good opportunity for him to get that monkey off his back.

Very few can get close to the juggernaut that is the Willie Mullins racing operation, though the Martin Brassil-trained Fastorslow certainly has a taste for it, defeating a Mullins quintet that included the reigning Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs in last month’s Grade One John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown. 

That victory means that Fastorslow has now upset the Gold Cup winner twice on the bounce, having also won the Punchestown Gold Cup in May, and he will be hoping to rubber stamp his own Cheltenham Gold Cup aspirations when lining up in the Grade One Savills Chase. It looks like Galopin Des Champs will be there for round three with his new rival in a race which last produced a Gold Cup hero with Synchronised in 2011-2012.

The Matheson Hurdle is one of the key pointers for next year’s Unibet Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and although he’s likely to be a very short price, it’s worth keeping an eye on State Man. Willie Mullins’ charge has been almost foot-perfect since switching to Closutton in 2021, with only one horse getting the better of him when completing the course – a certain Nicky Henderson-trained Constitution Hill.

State Man was ultimately well held by Constitution Hill in last year’s Champion Hurdle – going down by nine lengths to the champion – though he made a pleasing return in last month’s Grade One Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown and connections will be hoping he can seal a seventh top-level success here. Still only a six-year-old, it’s not out of the realms of possibility that State Man could get a bit closer to the reigning champion at next year’s Cheltenham Festival.

With four days of racing action upon us at Leopardstown, there ought to be plenty of chances to grab a few winners over the Christmas period. There will be no less than seven Grade One races across the four days, which we have listed for you below.

• Racing Post Novice Chase – 2.20pm, Tuesday 26 December
• Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase – 1.10pm, Wednesday 27 December
• Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle – 1.45pm, Wednesday 27 December
• Jack De Bromhead Christmas Hurdle – 1.50pm, Thursday 28 December
• Savills Chase – 2.25pm, Thursday 28 December
• Neville Hotels Novice Chase – 1.45pm, Friday 29 December
• Matheson Hurdle – 2.20pm, Friday 29 December

There are plenty of different ways to bet on the Leopardstown Christmas Festival, with something for everyone available. We’ve listed some of the most popular betting methods below. 

This is the most simple way to bet on horse racing, as you are placing a bet on one horse to win their respective race. For example, a £5 bet on Kauto Star to win the Savills Chase at 2-1 with William Hill would return a total of £15 should he win.

You can also bet on a horse to place in any given race, which tends to be a popular option with horses who are considered outsiders. Generally, you would need your horse to finish in the first three to get a return, though the place terms will depend on the number of runners. 

An each-way bet consists of two bets in one, as you are placing a bet on a horse to win a race and another for a horse to place in that race.  

For example, if you place £1 each-way on a horse at 16-1 in the Racing Post Handicap Chase on Tuesday 26 December, £1 is going on the horse to win and £1 on the horse to place. If the horse wins, you’ll get £17 back on the win part of the bet and you will also get £4.20 back on the placed part of the bet (this amount can vary depending on your bookmaker’s place terms), meaning a total return of £21.20. 

This is a slightly more complicated wager as you are placing three bets on three horses, which will form three double bets. For example, if you wanted to place a two from three bet on Kauto Star, Denman and Imperial Commander at Leopardstown, you’d have three doubles of Kauto Star-Denman, Kauto Star-Imperial Commander and Denman-Imperial Commander. Two of those horses would have to win for you to get a return on your outlay. 

This is a popular bet with Tote punters and would give you an interest in the first six races on the card at any given day at the Leopardstown Christmas Festival. You must pick a horse to place in each of the first six races on the card, with stakes starting at £2.

Almost all bookmakers offer ‘best odds guaranteed’ which means they will give you the best price if you back a horse and they drift in the market. You may have to opt into this promotion with certain bookmakers, so do check with your betting website.

Once you have earned your free bets for the Leopardstown Christmas Festival, placing them is simple. You need to log in to your betting account and you should be able to see them available, either alongside your balance or in the betslip. 

To use them, you need to navigate to the ‘Horse Racing’ section of the site and head to the Leopardstown betting markets. Once you have chosen the horse you would like to back, you need to find they race they are running in and select them. 

Your selection should then appear in the betslip, where you should see the option to use your free bet. Activate that and press ‘place bet’. Good luck!

There are some excellent betting offers for punters to take advantage of ahead of this year’s Leopardstown Christmas Festival in Dublin. 

New BoyleSports customers can earn up to £20 in free bets when they sign up for an account. Once you have created an account, place a £10 bet at minimum odds of evens and you will be credited with a £20 free bet. You can also earn further a £10 casino bonus to use on the site. 

Paddy Power account. Sign up for an account and then place 5 x £10 sportsbook bets on any horse racing market at minimum odds of 2.0 (evens). If any of those bets lose, your account will be credited with a free £10 bet up to a total amount of £50.

Meanwhile, new BetVictor customers can get £40 in bonuses and 50 free spins when they sign up for a new account and bet £10. Once you have signed up, place a £10 bet on any sports market at evens (2.0 odds) or greater and the bonuses will be credited. You will receive the free bets in the form of 1 x £10 horse racing free bet, 1 x £10 in-play horse racing free bet, 1 x £10 football free bet, 1 x football bet builder free bet and 50 Free Spins on Fishin' Christmas Pots of Gold.

The ‘non-runner, no bet’ feature is a popular one for punters who like to bet ante-post on jumps racing. This essentially means that you’re placing a bet on a race before the fields are declared, meaning that there’s a risk that the horse may not line up for one reason or another. 

It means that you are likely to get a bigger price due to the increased risk of not getting a run for your money, but some bookmakers will protect against this by offering ‘non-runner, no bet’. If your bookmaker offers this, it means they will refund you if the horse you’ve bet on doesn’t line up in your selected race at the Leopardstown Christmas Festival. Check with your provider before placing any ante-post bets. 

Most bookmakers offer ‘Best Odds Guaranteed’ on all British and Irish racing, though the starting point of that offer will generally depend on the operator. Three of the best bookmakers on the market for this are Unibet, Ladbrokes and bet365, who offer best odds guaranteed on all UK and Irish racing from 8am on the day of the race.

Once you have picked out your Leopardstown Christmas Festival free bet offer, claiming your free bet is a pretty simple process. Let’s say that you would like to take advantage of BetVictor’s offer of £40 in free bets once you stake £10 - we’ll talk you through the process below. 

• Opt into this promotion by navigating to the ‘offers’ tab on the website
• Deposit £10 into your new account by using debit card or Apple Pay
• Place your first bet of £10 on any sports market with odds of evens or greater within 7 days of creating the account
• Once the bet is settled, the free bets will be credited to your account, including a £10 free horse racing bet
• Navigate to the ‘horse racing’ section of the website and select Leopardstown
• Once you have found a horse you would like to back, click the odds next to the horse’s name and they should appear in your betslip
• Select the option to use your £10 horse racing free bet and select ‘place bet’. Good luck!

The current favourite for this year’s Savills Chase is the reigning Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, the Willie Mullins-trained Galopin Des Champs. 

The seven-year-old is a best-priced 7-4 favourite for the Grade One contest with William Hill at the time of writing, ahead of Fastorslow (5-2), Gerri Colombe (5-2) and Envoi Allen (12-1).

The Savills Chase is one of the most lucrative races on the Irish jumps racing calendar, with a total prize pot of €175,000 on offer and a whopping €103,250 going to the winning connections.

When you are betting on the horse racing at Leopardstown online, the stakes do not have to be high at all. On course at Leopardstown, the minimum bet tends to be either €2 or €5 with the bookmakers depending on who you choose, but if you have an online betting account it is much lower. 

The minimum stake with Ladbrokes is as little as 1 pence, while it is 5 pence with Sky Bet and 10 pence with bet365 – meaning that you don’t have to risk a lot to have fun when betting on horse racing.

With some top-class racing set to take place at Leopardstown over four days in Dublin, the betting markets are certain to be lively. Some bookmakers will offer more competitive prices than others and a good place to keep track of this is by using the betting comparison grid on Oddschecker. 

Meanwhile, it’s worth using bet365 for any races at Leopardstown that are shown live on ITV Racing. The firm has an ITV Racing price promise, which means they won’t be beaten on price for any horse which runs live on the channel.

Once you have got your free bet for Leopardstown sorted, finding a horse to bet on can feel daunting if you’re not used to betting on horse racing. To help you out, we’ve put together our five top tips on betting to help you find a winner…

With four days of top-class racing ahead, you’re going to have to study the form if you want to find a winner. Luckily there are plenty of resources out there, with free form available at sites like Racing Post, Timeform and Sporting Life. 

It’s worth keeping a close eye on the betting markets for Leopardstown, which are likely to be very lively throughout. A horse may catch your eye on the form, but if they are drifting in the market it may be a clue that better propositions lie elsewhere.

This may sound simple, but paying close attention to who is going to ride your selection can make a difference. The five jump jockeys with the best record at Leopardstown over the last five seasons according to Timeform data are Paul Townend, Jack Kennedy, Patrick Mullins, Mark Walsh and Rachael Blackmore.

There is more information out there than ever before to help punters and it’s certainly worth making use of it. Things like horse racing blog posts and horse racing podcasts are great resources, while Racing TV pundits Gary O’Brien, Fran Berry and Ruby Walsh are excellent judges. 

Once you have been credited with your free bet on the Leopardstown Christmas Festival, you may be tempted to place it on the very first race (the TRI Equestrian Maiden Hurdle on Tuesday 26 December). It may be that your NAP selection is in this race, but with four days of racing and seven Grade 1 contests ahead of you, make sure you have considered every angle before placing your free bet.

Remember to gamble responsibly

A responsible gambler is someone who:

• Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
• Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
• Never chase their losses
• Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed

For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to www.gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites.