‘Cheltenham here we come’ – Four dark horses that won over Christmas to follow in 2025

The Christmas period is always enlightening and we learnt plenty in 2024. Constitution Hill is back and Galopin Des Champs has confirmed his status as the best staying chaser. We’ve selected four winners over the festive period that are perhaps less obvious and could be worth adding to your trackers for 2025. Check out our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.

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East India Express

Trained by Nicky Henderson, this horse was a victim of the yard’s poor form last term and looks well treated this season as a result. He was a very comfortable winner of a handicap hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day and could be worth considering for the Coral Cup at Cheltenham in March.

Kopek Des Bordes

This horse went against the grain in being an uncharacteristically rare winner for Willie Mullins on Boxing Day. Whilst most of the yard’s runners looked like something was amiss on the day, he got off the mark in a Leopardstown maiden hurdle. The five-year-old barely jumped a twig and will improve significantly if improving on that front.

The Big Westerner

Henry de Bromhead had a good time of things on Boxing Day, with an across the card treble. Chief among them was Grade 2 winner The Big Westerner. This smart mare showed an abundance of stamina to win the 2m7f novice hurdle in good style and could be an Albert Bartlett type further down the line.

Sainte Lucie

It’s surely Cheltenham here we come for New Years’ Eve winner Sainte Lucie, who looked very smart when winning a three-year-old maiden hurdle at Punchestown. She was keen in the early stages of the race but still had plenty left and scored by 11 lengths. The Triumph Hurdle and the Boodles will presumably be considered and the former looks the most likely on that evidence.

If you back any of our selections you can watch them live on the free Racing Post app or racingpost.com. Simply log in to one of your bookmaker accounts and click ‘Watch live’ on the racecards.

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