Cheltenham's first meeting of the season is on Friday and from here to the Festival in March the list changes shape. Not the rules. The shape. I'll set out what to expect, because a few of you joined in the summer and have only seen the flat version. If you've been thinking about joining, this is the week.
First, more jumps and less sand. The all weather keeps going all winter and I'll keep betting there, but the bulk of the list from November on is jumps horses, which means more place bets. Small fields, honest ground, favourites that get beaten by something that stays better and still finish second. The quarter points land one after another and keep the book steady through the weeks when the win bets are slow. Last winter, October to the end of March, the record made just over fifty points from 421 bets and the deepest dip was nine and a half. That's a replay of the rules, not live tips, and the summer just gone was better, so I'm not promising a repeat. I'm telling you what the winter has looked like.
Second, the comeback horses come back. Jumps only, so they went quiet in the summer apart from the odd one at Newton Abbot and Worcester. From now there'll be one or two a week. Half a point, strict rules, and I'll say so on the card when a BSP Favourite is a comeback bet so you're not wondering why there's an F in the line.
Third, the big meetings. Cheltenham in November, Newbury, the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day, then the Festival. The same rule as always applies. The bigger the meeting, the more honest the prices and the fewer bets I have. Don't read a quiet Festival week as the list going wrong. Read it as the list doing what it did the last two years.
What doesn't change. Four points a day on the main list. The forty point bank, or whatever yours has grown to. Points, not pounds, so you set the stake. Every bet at starting price, so there's no rush. The Sunday night routine, the morning email before the first race, and a line saying there's nothing on when there's nothing on. Two weeks for £5 gets you every bet from Friday, the place bets and the comeback horses included.
October's been poor, nine points down, and the book has started every winter from somewhere like this. On Friday the jumps start properly. Same stakes.
Lee
See exactly what I do for two weeks.
For only £5.
Every bet I make, by email each racing morning, with the stake and my line on why. Pay £5 today, then £49 on day 15 for the winter pass to 31 March.
If your first month on the £49 loses, I refund it. Nothing renews after 31 March. Full details.
More from the notebook: The jumps are back on Friday · Royal Ascot 2026, the week I watched again