Tense. Exciting. Stressful. Enjoyable.

All of the above and more,” says Paddy Power racing director Paddy Desmond, referencing Cheltenham week on the trading room of Power Tower, Clonskeagh.

This room, not much bigger than a basketball court in length and width, will see millions of euro and sterling prism through it in the middle of March. Housed here are separate sets of Paddy Power and Betfair traders, while the money-making machine that is the Betfair Exchange is also operated from this south Dublin base.

This is a place where the stakes are high but peak highest for the Cheltenham Festival when the year-round wait is over for the core group of jumps racing fans and when the once-a-year crew connect a multitude of hitches to the bandwagon.

“It’s the biggest week of the year for racing trading,” Desmond says. “The Grand National is the biggest betting race and Royal Ascot can get big when there is a World Cup on, but Cheltenham is the biggest week and it’s getting bigger.

“If a horse wins a good Grade 1 at Christmas, the talk is all about what race he’ll go for at Cheltenham, not necessarily the race he has just won. That’s the way the narrative has gone. The whole thing is like Christmas, it seems to begin earlier and earlier every year.

“Not long ago we wouldn’t be pricing up the handicaps until mid February, now we have all 28 races priced up by the turn of the year.”

Think of bookmakers during Cheltenham as that small group of away fans at a big football stadium, stashed away in the corner, outnumbered significantly, but just as likely to be shouting loudest when the final whistle goes.

SHOWDOWN

For years that has been the lure of Cheltenham, the ultimate showdown between bookmaker and punter, but now you have other factors which have contributed to the meeting’s enhancement.

The elongation to a four-day week, the success of Irish-trained runners and maybe most significantly, ante-post betting.

“Within seconds of a horse winning a big race, we’re sending out prices to our on-course representatives for Cheltenham targets. Essentially, they’re not concrete prices as often we don’t know what races the horses are going for but people want to know this,” Desmond explains.

So, it’s a form of marketing as such?

“Yes, in a way it is.

“Many people are hugely interested in it, without necessarily wanting to have a bet until closer to the time or on the day itself. The on-the-day markets is when the majority of business is done.

“At the same time, there is a lot of value in our ante-post markets if punters want to go that way. We’re at least 10/1 the field for all the handicaps. I don’t accept the point of view that ante-post betting is dead but it is true that most punters will wait until the day.”

Liabilities can still run up from ante-post betting markets but Desmond says this doesn’t affect the rock solid on-the-day market.

“Closer to Cheltenham, we’ll basically wipe the prices, and reassess races as if they have just been declared. Of course you don’t want to have all your eggs in one basket but most of the time we’re happy with the prices we’ve been laid, and therefore, happy to stand it up.”

ANNIE POWER

Perhaps this is easier said than done, especially when two or three or even four Irish-trained, well-fancied horses are going in. There is no bigger example of this than the opening day of the 2015 Festival when the famous Willie Mullins-trained favourites accumulator literally fell at the last hurdle, when Annie Power came down with the Mares’ Hurdle seemingly in the bag.

Earlier, Douvan (2/1), Un De Sceaux (4/6) and Faugheen (4/5) had rolled up cumulative accumulators to eye-watering liabilities for the whole bookmaking industry, causing a wide panic which saw the mare go off 1/2, with the rest becoming Cheltenham Festival folklore.

“It was a strange day,” Desmond reflects. “If I remember right, we were under the market on three if not all four so we kind of saw it coming on the Monday. It was a surreal kind of thing when it was happening because we were concentrating on pricing up the next day’s racing and all of a sudden you have this monster brewing.

“I don’t think the situation was overplayed at all. You have to consider that all of those people that don’t really follow racing but wanted to have a bet, it was an obvious thing to put all four of these fancied horses into a Lucky 15 or four-fold accumulator. It would have been a huge blow.”

CLICKED

Of course, there have been days when the big money favourite sequences have clicked, hitting Paddy Power hard. Desmond recalls the following year a Thursday St Patrick’s Day treble of Vautour (Evens), Thistlecrack (Evens) and Limini (8/11) that inflicted serious damage. Then, on the flip side, there have been good days, probably many more of them than the bad days, and last year’s Gold Cup day was one that tipped the Festival in Paddy Power’s favour.

Aside from the business of trading the markets on each race, there are another set of challenges that come with the furore of Cheltenham. An influx of new customers, while on the whole good for business, can also provide cover for the smart customers bookmakers look to avoid, in shops and online.

In the case of Paddy Power some of the challenges are self-inflicted. They have led the way with the money-back-on-all-losers special since they first offered it in 2012 for Cousin Vinny’s Supreme Novice Hurdle.

That progressed to money back on all losers if the favourite won any of the seven races on the first seven races.

“That can be tricky with regard to trading,” Desmond admits. “Bookmakers are falling over themselves to attract new customers in for Cheltenham and in that way it has never been better for the punter.”

THIS YEAR

With regard to this year’s Festival, after a somewhat strange season, it’s hard to know what to expect. “It’s been a strange year. It definitely feels like Willie Mullins doesn’t have the same sort of team and that has probably contributed to an open-looking Cheltenham Festival so far. With the Dublin Racing Festival now over and done with, markets should take a lot more shape,” Desmond explains.

“It obviously helps to have that well-known favourite from a long way out. You don’t want a Cheltenham when it’s 4/1 the field for the Grade 1 races because then it’s too hard for punters. You want your stars in racing. And ideally you want those stars to be prices that punters can afford, not like Altior who could foreseeably be a 1/4 or 1/5 shot on the day.”

SCREENS

In another chamber of Power Tower resides the screens department whose inhabitants, as you might have guessed, are in charge of what you see in the Paddy Power betting shops across Britain and Ireland. The room replicates a betting shop, with a team of around 10 people controlling what is broadcast on screens - live events, virtual racing/sports, betting shows and money back specials/offers.

There is serious thought and consideration put into what you see on the screens of betting shops and that goes into overdrive for Cheltenham, where everything is based around the Festival.

Patrick Kennelly, retail product director, says the preparation for Cheltenham begins as soon as Christmas finishes. “We start organising very early where different things are going to go. During Cheltenham, you have to consider that there is a huge amount of people coming into shops maybe for their first time since the previous year’s Festival or for the first time ever. We have to make it easy for them to see everything we have to offer.

“Usually we’d be leaving some screens for football and other sports but not at Cheltenham week. Everything else takes a back seat. There are usually Champions League matches on the Tuesday and Wednesday nights which would usually be very prominent but we have to concentrate on Cheltenham.”

As the Cheltenham Festival continues to grow, the preparation levels in Clonskeagh move in line. The biggest week of the betting year is upon us and Paddy Power are ready for business.

THE VOICE

Amanda Ní Chólmáin provides the voice to guide punters through the day. It’s her job to alert, preview and detail the specials Paddy Power offer during the day. Multiply that by 10 for Cheltenham week.

“I always say if you don’t enjoy working Cheltenham week, you probably shouldn’t be working here – there is just great atmosphere around the place,” Ní Chólmáin says.

“You’d have loads of different people from different departments asking you to promote their offer or preview something. I come into the studio in the morning with a packet of Strepsils and go hell for leather for the day.”

In recent years there has been a movement from bookmakers to attain some of the sport’s leading figures which allows them to put out their own premium content.

Paddy Power are no different with the likes of Ruby Walsh, Mick Fitzgerald, Matt Chapman and Nina Carberry all signed up by the bookmaker.

“It’s brilliant to be able to work with these people,” says Ní Chólmáin. “I can give Ruby a call anytime and he’s such a nice guy.

“The guys will come in a couple of weeks before Cheltenham for two to three hours and we’ll record their opinion for every race. This then gets chopped up and goes out in the shops the week before and on the days of the festival as well.”

Kennelly adds: “I suppose we’re in a good position in this part of the building in that we can plan in advance and be ready.

“Unless you have the crazy situation when the whole Wednesday was called off because of winds, we’re going to be okay.”