2025 Cheltenham Festival
The Cheltenham Festival is the highlight of the jumps season and the pinnacle of National Hunt racing. Spread over four days, and a total of twenty-eight races, the Cheltenham Festival is the centre stage for the highest quality of horse either side of the Irish sea, and a healthy rivalry between the Irish and British gave birth to the Prestbury Cup, a trophy to the team with the most winners during the week.
Here you will find everything you need for the Cheltenham Festival. Read all racecards for every race across all four days, read out runner by runner previews for all the big races, and place your bets directly by clicking the odds buttons. You’ll also find the latest news and expert tips for the week, all in one place.
Photograph by Grossick Racing Photography
Tuesday 11th March
Tuesday is Champion Hurdle day and arguably the best day of the week. Constitution Hill was a hugely convincing winner of the 2023 renewal of the feature race, but State Man took advantage of Constitution Hill’s absence in 2024 when winning the race cosily under Paul Townend for trainer Willie Mullins.
The meeting opens with the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, a contest that tends to be a strong guide to future stars. Willie Mullins holds the record for training the most winners of the race, mopping up five of the last 12, taking his total to seven. He again looks likely to hold a strong hand in the race with several horses to choose from and will no doubt be keen to get back on track after only managing a second place in last year’s contest behind Henry de Bromhead’s Slade Steel.
Races on Champions Day
The Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle Race (Grade 1)
The My Pension Expert Arkle Novices’ Chase (Grade 1)
The Ultima Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap)
The Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle Race (Grade 1)
The Unibet Champion Hurdle (Grade 1)
The Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle Race (Premier Handicap)
The National Hunt Novices’ Chase (Novices’ Handicap)
For detailed insight and analysis, you can catch our Cheltenham day 1 tips.
Wednesday 12th March
The second day features the Queen Mother Champion Chase, a race that had been dominated by Great Britain up until 2022 with eight of the last nine winners. Energuemene was brilliant here on bottomless ground when claiming his first Champion Chase crown in 2022 and perhaps even more so when running out a bloodless 10-length winner here in 2023. Energuemene was ruled out for the season in 2024 which left very skinny favourite El Fabiolo with seemingly a penalty kick. However, his jumping wasn’t up to scratch and he was pulled up early, which left the door open for Henry de Bromhead’s Captain Guinness to storm to victory.
Delta Work thrillingly won the Cross Country Chase from the two-time Grand National here Tiger Roll here in 2022 before finishing third in the Aintree showpiece himself a month later. Connections were confident that the ten-year-old could become only the third horse to win the race back-to-back and their confidence was rewarded after another solid round of jumping and yet another battle after the last saw him get the better of Gordon Elliott’s Galvin by just over two lengths in 2023. The 2024 renewal sadly had to be postponed due to inclement weather leaving the Cross Country course waterlogged.
Wednesday kicks off with two novice events – The Turners Novices’ Hurdle and the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase. Many horses are usually late to declare for the former, with some favouring other Novice Hurdle races throughout the week and this can make it a difficult enough betting heat. Elsewhere we have one of the trickiest handicaps of the week in the Coral Cup, the oldest race at the festival in the Grand Annual Chase and the Irish-dominated Champion Bumper, a race won 13 times by Willie Mullins who scooped the race in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024.
Races on Festival Wednesday
The Turners Novices’ Hurdle Race (Grade 1)
The Brown Advisory Novices’ Steeple Chase (Grade 1)
The Coral Cup Hurdle (Premier Handicap)
The Glenfarclas Cross Country Steeple Chase
The BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Steeple Chase (Grade 1)
The Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap)
The Weatherbys Champion Bumper (Grade 1)
For detailed insight and analysis, you can catch our Cheltenham day 2 tips.
Thursday 13th March
Thursday at Cheltenham hosts the exciting, and relatively new race, the Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle. It was won each of the first five times by Willie Mullins but since then Henry de Bromhead, Harry Fry, Jamie Snowden and Jeremy Scott have taken the last four runnings.
The first of the two feature races on St Patrick’s Day is the Ryanair Chase. After two hugely dominating performances in 2021 and 2022, sadly Allaho couldn’t shake off the fitness issues that he’d been suffering with throughout the season yet again which left Henry de Bromhead’s Envoi Allen as the clear favourite on the day. He ran a gallant race but couldn’t get the better of a rejuvenated Protektorat to round off an incredible week for the Skeltons.
The second feature on Thursday showcases the best 3-mile hurdlers around in the Stayers’ Hurdle. There has been no bias in terms of where the winners are trained in recent years with the last 10 renewals split six to four in favour of Ireland. Possibly an unlucky loser in 2023 behind stablemate Sire Du Berlais, Gordon Elliott’s Teahupoo justified favouritism when winning the race well in 2024.
The Pertemps Final is one of the most anticipated handicaps of the year. Qualifiers through the season set a number of fascinating plot lines to make it one of the best puzzles of the week for punters.
Races on St Patrick’s Thursday
The Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle
The Jack Richards Novices’ Handicap Chase
The Pertemps Network Final (Listed Premier Handicap)
The Ryanair Steeple Chase (Grade 1)
The Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle (Grade 1)
The TrustATrader Plate (Premier Handicap)
The Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Handicap Steeple Chase
For detailed insight and analysis, you can catch our Cheltenham day 3 tips.
Friday 14th March
Friday is the final day of the festival and it’s highlight is the Cheltenham Gold Cup. After falling at the last in the 2022 Turners Novices’ Chase, in what would have been a bloodless victory, all of the hype in the lead up to last year’s showpiece surrounded Galopin Des Champs. The Willie Mullins’ superstar didn’t disappoint, showing all of his usual zest and cruising through the race to take it up at the last and win going away by 7 lengths. He went on to defend his crown in style in 2024, with Gerri Colombe trailing back in second, and a superstar has been born. As you’d expect in the most prestigious National Hunt race of them all, the dangers are all around again this term, but will anybody be able to live with a horse that could go down as an all-time great?
The Albert Bartlett and Triumph Hurdle are the two novice contests on the card. Both have a reputation as hard races to win and 2025 look to be no exception with smart youngsters flooding the fields. They are notoriously fiendishly difficult races to predict so be sure to check out our Cheltenham day 4 tips for these two.
Following the Gold Cup is the Hunters’ Chase, one of the biggest betting heats of the entire year and a race that tends to throw up big-priced winners with SPs of 16/1, 25/1, 66/1, 16/1 and 66/1 in the last 8 renewals.
Willie Mullins’s 100% record in the Mares’ Chase was ended in 2023 by Impervious, a horse that hadn’t run to potential at the previous festival but looked much improved since being bought by JP McManus and sent chasing, she provided a welcome winner for Colm Murphy, beating the Mullins-trained Allegorie De Vassy in the process. JP McManus won the race again in 2024 with the well backed Limerick Lace for Gavin Cromwell, who saw off Dinoblue in the same colours.
The festival finishes with a conditional jockeys handicap named in honour of Britain’s most successful jumps trainer, Martin Pipe. The Irish have seen major success here in recent times having won all but three of the last 11 renewals.
Races on Gold Cup Day
The JCB Triumph Hurdle (Grade 1)
The William Hill County Handicap Hurdle Race (Premier Handicap)
The Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Steeple Chase (Grade 2)
The Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle Race (Grade 1)
The Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup Steeple Chase (Grade 1)
The St. James’s Place Festival Hunters Chase
Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle
For detailed insight and analysis, you can catch our Cheltenham Day 4 tips.
Photograph by Grossick Racing Photography
