The event was hotly contested in 2009 when Gregory Bourdy managed to hold off Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy beating him by just two strokes. Bourdy is currently at odds of 40/1 to retain his title this year, with McIlroy close behind just behind this years favourite Graeme McDowell.

There is a cash back offer available on the Hong Kong open which comes courtesy of bookmakers Betfred. If your back a player in the outright market and your player finishes in second place to Graeme McDowell then you will have your losing stake money returned to your account. As with all betting offers this promotion is subject to terms and conditions all of which can be seen on the Betfred website and you can only claim back bets up to the value of £200.

Hong Kong Open outright winner

Odds for this market come courtesy of bookmakers Betfred.

• 17/2 – Graeme McDowell
• 19/2 – Rory Mcilroy
• 12/1 – Ian Poulter
• 14/1 – Miguel Angel Jimenez
• 25/1 – Thongchai Jaidee
• 28/1 – Anders Hansen
• 28/1 – Soren Kjeldsen
• 33/1 – Y.E Yang
• 33/1 – Seung-Yul Noh
• 40/1 – Jeev Milkha Singh

Click here to place your bet on the Hong Kong Open with Betfred

Our friends over at Sporting Bet are making great use of betting offers to use during the Cheltenham Festival. Throughout the whole four day they are running a faller betting refund if your chosen horse falls, unseats or is brought down then they will refund your stake to use as a free bet on the following days racing. An top of this on their special Cheltenham Festival mircosite they are running offers such as enhanced odds , enhanced doubles and special daily offers only available between 12pm and 1pm each day.

Click here to place your Triumph Hurdle bet with Sporting Bet

The favourite for the race according to Sporting Bet is Alaivan at odds of 7/2 followed closely by Carlito Brigante at odds of 5/1. Our choice for the race is Westlin Winds a great offer at 12/1 for an each way bet.

The bookmakers Ladbrokes are running a great free bet offer on this race if you place a bet for £20 on the JCB Triumph Hurdle and they will give you a free bet of £10 to use on the Grand Annual Chase.

Click here to claim your £10 free bet from Ladbrokes

Triumph Hurdle Race Card

• 7/2 – Alaivan
• 5/1 – Carlito Brigante
• 7/1 – Advisor
• 7/1 – Secant Star
• 7/1 - Soldatino
• 12/1 – Westlin Winds
• 14/1 - Pittoni
• 16/1 – Olofi
• 28/1 – Barizan
• 33/1 – Barwell Bridge
• 66/1 – Baccalaureate

Click here to place your Cheltenham Festival bet and claim £100 in free bets from Sporting Bet

The favourite for the Queen Anne Stakes is the winner of the Dubai Duty Free;  Gladiatorus who is ridden by Ahmed Ajtebi and trained by Saeed Bin Suroor who will be looking for his 8th win in this race.  The second favourite is Paco Boy ridden by Richard Hughes, the Free Bets Blog tip for this race goes to the Micky Fenton outsider Mac Love who has seen his odds go down from 66/1 to 50 already today so could be could for an each way tip.

The bookmaker Boylesports are offering several betting offers at Ascot Racecourse today and for this race you can get 1/4 the odds.

Queen Anne Stakes Runners

• 9/4 – Gladiatorus
• 10/3 – Paco Boy
• 9/2 – Main Aim
• 7/1 – Alexandros
• 9/1 – Aqlaam
• 9/1 – Cesare
• 28/1 – Arabian Gleam
• 33/1 – Dream Eater
• 50/1 – Mac Love

Click here to claim your £20 free bet from Boylesports

The Grand National is a fantastic sporting spectacle that brings together an entire nation in the pursuit of finding the winning horse of the most famous horse race in the World. Forty horses line up at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool to navigate the four mile trip and jump 30 daunting fences and we have put together 20 facinating facts about the race for your enjoyment and to wet your appetite ahead of the race on Saturday 4th April 2009.

1. Red Rum is the most successful horse ever at the Grand National, having won three times (1973, 1974, 1977) and been second twice (1975, 1976).<

2. Golden Miller is the only horse ever to win both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same season (1934) 

3. Only four horses have ever won back to back Grand Nationals. Abd-El-Kader (1850, 1851), The Colonel (1869, 1870), Reynoldstown (1935, 1936) and Red Rum (1973, 1974). 

4. Manifesto holds the record for the greatest number of Grand national appearances. He ran eight, winning twice and was third on three other occasions. He never failed to get round the course.

5. Earth Summit in 1998, became the only horse to win the Grand National who had also won the Scottish and Welsh versions of the race.

6.  Only two grey horses have ever won the Grand National, (the Lamb in 1868, 1871), and Nicholas Silver (1961)

7. The first ever winner of the Grand National in 1839 was aptly named Lottery who won when 5-1 favourite.

8. The fastest ever winner of the National was Mr Frisk in 1990, who was timed at 8min 47.8 secs. 

9. In 1929 a record 66 horses started the race. These days the field is restricted to just forty.

10. Bechers Brook, the most formidable of all Aintree’s thirty fences is named after a former jockey, Captain Becher who fell at the fence and took cover from the other horses in its ditch.

11.  The Chair is Aintree’s tallest fence at 5’3”.

12. The Aintree fences are made up from spruce taken from the Lake District.

13. Tom Oliver holds the record for the most appearances in the race, having ridden in it 18 times.

14. George Stevens holds the record of number of wins. He won five times, with his final victory coming in 1870.

15. The oldest jockey to have won the Grand national was Dick Saunders who was 48 when winning on Grittar in 1982. Bruce Hobbs was the youngest at 17, when he rode Battleship to victory in 1938.

16. Geraldin Rees was the first female jockey to complete the course in 1982 on a horse named Gordon’s Lad.

17. Charlotte Brew was the first woman jockey to ride in the race. She partnered Baroney Fort in 1977 who fell four fences from home.

18. Ruby Walsh holds the record of current jockeys in the race with two wins. Papillon in 2000 and Hedgehunter in 2005.

19. Jenny Pitman is the only woman to have trained a Grand National winner and she achieved the feat twice. She trained Corbiere in 1983 and Royal Athlete in 1995. 

20. Fred Rimell is the most successful Grand National trainer with four different winners. ESB (1956), Nicolaus Silver (1961), Gay trip (1970), Rag Trade (1976). Ginger McCain has also trained four winners but with only two horses, Red Rum and Amberleigh House (2004).

As part of Boylesports great betting offers they have a cash back offer on this race if your horse finishes in second place and ends up being beaten by exactly 2, 4, 6 or 8 lengths they you initial disappointment will soon go as they refund you your losing stake.

Click here to bet on this and other cash back offers from Boylesports

The favourite according to Boylesports is going to be Sula’s Legend at odds of just 2/1.  The second favourite is Sarahs Gift at 7/2.  The Free Bets Blog tip for this race is She’s Humble at 9/1 which should be good for an each way bet.

Click here to claim your £200 in free bets from Boylesports

This offer is repeated at 2 other races taking place at Kempton Racecourse today the next is on the 16:15 Handicap Hurdle where our tip is on Compton Star at 8/1, the favourite for the race is Scrape The Paint at 6/4.  The next race on offer is also a Handicap Hurdle at 16:50 with the favourite Pepito Collonges at odds of 7/4, our tip goes to Burgess Hill at 11/2.

Sky Bet have another great set of offers available for the 6 races today and hope to tempt punters in to making plenty of Cheltenham Festival bets.

Jewson Novices’ Handicap Chase

For the first race of the day Sky Bet are making the race an extra value race by giving 1% a runner on today’s opening race.  The favourite for this race is the Ruby Walsh ridden Northern Alliance at odds of 13/2.

Pertemps Final

The second race of the day is also an extra value race again 1% a runner on The Pertemps Final Handicap Hurdle, and also if you horse finishes in 5th place then Sky Bet will give you your money back. The favourite for this race is Don’t Push It at 13/2.

Ryanair Chase

The favourite for the Ryanair Chase is Voy Por Ustedes currently at evens, the bookies will be hoping that this horses comes last! For this race Sky Bet will be giving the race a 110% book.

Ladbrokes World Hurdle

One of the big money races of the Cheltenham Festival is the Ladbrokes Hurdle, Skybet will also be giving this race a 110% book making Skybet the TOP PRICE on more than half of the field in the World Hurdle today. The favourite for this hurdle is Kasbah Bliss ridden by Christophe Pieux.

Freddie Williams Festival Plate

The favourite for the penultimate race of day three of the Cheletenham Festival is Clarified ridden by P Carberry. Sky Bet are giving punters their money back on this race if their horse finishes in 5th places as well as making the race an extra value race.

Challenge Cup Handicap Chase

Closing the racing at today’s Cheltenham Festival is the Challenge Cup Chase, Sky Bet are making this race of 24 runners as an extra place race, they will be paying out on 5 places. The current favourite for this race is Poker De Sivola at odds of 4/1.

Click here to claim your free £20 bet from Sky Bet

Bet 365, Paddy Power, Victor Chandler and Sky Bet are all running a no runner no bet guarantee on ALL of the 26 festival races at Cheltenham with Sky Bet promising they will be running specials on each of the 26 races, the first one being revealed at 3pm on Monday 9th March.  This is on top of the standard free bet offers and signup bonuses that they are offering

Each of the bookmakers as well as having great Cheltenham Festival betting offers are running special Cheltenham Festival mini sites with exclusive content, on Blue SQ they are running podcasts with horse trainers like Paul Nicholls and Alan King.

Paddy Power will refund your losing single stake if your chosen horse finishes in second place to Transvestite in this race.  Transvestite is the favourite to win the race and currently has odds of 11/4.   The second favourite is Archie Gunn at odds of 9/2, with the choice for the Free Bets Blog Tip falling to the David Dennis ridden Petrus De Sormain at odds of 16/1.

Click here to claim your free £30 bet from Paddy Power

Jose Mourinho has expressed several times in the press recently that he desires a return to the English Premier League and this has made him the firm favourite to be the successor for Rafa Benitez.  He is closely followed by the current Villa manager Martin O’Neill who has managed to turn his side around to make them real contenders for European football.

Next Permanent Liverpool Manager

• 9/2 – Joes Mourinho
• 9/1 – Martin O’Neill
• 10/1 – Franklin Rijkaard
• 11/1 – Roberto Mancini
• 12/1 – Carlo Ancelotti
• 12/1 – Luiz Scolari
• 14/1 – Manuel Pellegrini
• 14/1 – Kenny Dalglish
• 14/1 – Sven Goran Eriksson
• 14/1 – Juande Ramos
• 16/1 – Gerard Houllier

Click here to claim your free £30 bet from Paddy Power

The first race on offer today is the 14:10 Bet Champions League Football – Betdaq Handicap and the offer is supplied by Boylesports who will refund you losing win stake if your finished in second place and is beaten by up to and including a head.  The favourite for this race is Tyrannosaurus Rex who has odds of 4/1 and the second favourite is Almaty Express at 11/2.   The Free Bets Blog tip for this race is Grimes Faith at 12/1 who has come in first place in 2 of his last 3 outings.

Click here to claim your £200 in free bets from Boylesports

The second race to feature cash back offers at Wolverhampton is the 15:40 race the Bet Asian Handicaps – Betdaq Handicap, that is a race for 13 runners over a distance of 1 mile and 141 yards.  The first offer is from Boylesports, who will refund your losing single stake on the second placed horse if the starting price favourite wins the race.  The offer from Paddy Power is that if your horse finishes in second place to Ardent Prince they will refund your losing single stake.

The favourite for this race is Ardent Prince who has been given odds of 3/1, the second favourite has fallen to Kargan ridden by Greg Fairley and has been given odds of 5/1.   The Free Bets Blog tip for this race is Just Jimmy ridden by Paul Doe and has odds of 8/1.

Click here to claim your free £30 bet from Paddy Power