Horse Racing Moves To ITV – In case you hadn’t noticed, there has been a change in UK horse racing coverage, with live racing moving from it’s home of the last few years, Channel 4, to it’s new home on ITV, starting on January 1st, 2017.
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Horse Racing Now On ITV
The main reason why you might notice the change, is because after it’s opening on New Year’s Day, horse racing will now not be seen on ITV’s flagship station, ITV1, until Tuesday 14th March, the start of the Cheltenham Festival, to be precise, including coverage of the 4 Cheltenham Championship races.
Until Cheltenham, coverage will continue on ITV4, with the first week’s action starting at 1.30pm, on Saturday 7th January, with races from Sandown and Wincanton, which is basically the same coverage previously provided by Channel 4.
Before horse racing enthusiasts jump up and down in disgust at the bread and butter coverage seemingly being dumped on the backwaters of ITV4, it’s worth remembering that ITV regularly host coverage of PDC Darts tournaments and some decent snooker tournaments on that channel.
They also cover the Tour de France, and French Open on Channel 4. They only really save England internationals for coverage on the main ITV channel, and some might justifiably argue that those matches could be dumped on any backwater channel, or even the Horror Channel.
Exciting Presenting Team On ITV Horse Racing
ITV have invested heavily in their presenting team, poaching Ed Chamberlain from Sky Sports, with analysis duties being performed by Sir Anthony (AP) McCoy, Hayley Turner, Mick Fitzgerald, Luke Harvey, Brian Gleeson, Frankie Dettori, along with occasional appearances from legendary horse racing presenter, Brough Scott.
Replacing Channel 4’s morning line programme, will be replaced by a magazine show known as ITV Racing: The Opening Show, shown on ITV4 at 10am, on Saturday mornings. The programme will be presented by Oli Bell, nephew of top trainer Michael Bell.
Horse Racing Free Bets
At Betfree247 we will bring you the best horse racing free bets and casino offers from the top UK and Irish bookmakers, and casino websites.
Free Bets are everywhere these days, for both new and existing customers. And with the competition between the online bookmakers so rife, there will be free bets around for some time.
Why is this? You may ask…. And the answer is because everything is online these days, banking, shopping, dating, etc, and betting is as well.
So with this in mind, the bookmakers are going to be after our custom. And the best way to grab our attention, is by giving us free bets.
These free bets are available to new customers, and existing customers. The new customer free bet offer is to get us to join the bookmaker. With the existing customer free bets designed to keep us with the bookmaker.
With the online betting market place so crowded, the bookmakers are fighting over our custom, and while they are doing this, we will continue to have free bets.
Two of the most popular free bets markets for existing customers, are on the Cheltenham Festival, and the Grand National.
Cheltenham Free Bets
The Cheltenham Festival takes place every year on roughly the second week in March. Starting on the Tuesday, there is 28 top class horse races across 4 days at the Gloucester course.
And with the Cheltenham Festival being one of horse racing’s premier events, there are plenty of free bets.
In general Cheltenham free bets are for existing customers, and they usually come in the form of a refund as a free bet.
There are also plenty of special Cheltenham free bets for new customers. For example a bookmaker might increase their free bets offers across the Cheltenham week.
It could be that you get £30.00 in Cheltenham free bets, rather than the standard £20.00 in free bets offer.
Grand National Free Bets
The next big event in horse racing is the world renowned Grand National from Aintree. And there is a bit of mystery about Grand National Free Bets – as they can be hard come by.
The bookmakers have a habit of pulling Grand National Free Bets in the week of the big race.
This is because the Grand National is traditionally the one race of the year that the non gambling British public will have a bet on.
So it makes sense for the bookmakers not to offer Grand National free bets.
It is possible to get Grand National Free Bets though, and timing is the key.
Some free bets last up to 7 days from when you open your account. Find a bookmaker offering a free bet that lasts for 7 days.
Then open an account with that bookie the Sunday or Monday before the Grand National.
That way, by the time of the race you will already have a free bet in the bank.
Casino Offers
Not only do we look for the best free bets, here we also strive to find the best casino offers. These casino offers are for both new customers, and existing customers.
Remember, with all casino offers, there will be wagering requirements to be met. So please ensure to check all terms and conditions first.
Casino New Customer Offers
New customers tend to get the most eye catching casino offers, as they are the headline offers used to try and temp us in.
They can be massive amounts at times. New customer casino offers can vary from 30 free spins with no deposit, right up to a deposit bonus worth £500.00.
These offers vary, so there should be something for everyone from the casual player, all the way up to the high roller.
Casino Existing Customer Offers
Casino offers for existing customers come in all forms. They can be monthly free spins for loyalty reasons, such as being a member of a VIP club.
Or these casino offers could weekly free spins available to everybody on a particular day. Or they could just be random ad hoc offers.
The VIP loyalty offers are generally the best. They can be huge offers, depending on how often you use the casino.
The casinos seem to like loyalty and put a lot of focus on this, which is why there are currently some great casino offers available to existing customers.