CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL DAY 1 TIPS

Ireland looks extremely likely to open the scoring in the traditional festival curtain-raiser and many will see Kopek Des Bordes as the first banker of the week for Willie Mullins. The five-year-old was so impressive in his Grade 1 win at the Dublin Racing Festival that Mullins said fellow trainer Ted Walsh had called the next day to compare him to Golden Cygnet, the fabled but ill-fated outstanding Supreme winner in 1978. The biggest danger is Gordon Elliott’s Romeo Coolio, a Grade 1 winner at Christmas who has the advantages of more hurdling experience than the favourite and a previous run at Cheltenham, having been runner-up in last year’s Champion Bumper. Henry de Bromhead, who won with Slade Steel last year, has the promising but inexperienced Workahead this time. Mullins has a host of other possibles and the highest-rated is Grade 2 winner Salvator Mundi. Britain would have a good chance only if The New Lion or Potters Charm were surprisingly rerouted from the Turners.

This was shaping up as potentially one of the best Britain v Ireland showdowns of the festival until the news came that Nicky Henderson’s Sir Gino – hugely impressive on his chasing debut at Christmas – had been ruled out due to a serious infection in the ligaments of his near hind leg. He had been odds-on favourite but that mantle passed to Willie Mullins’ Majborough, like Sir Gino an outstanding juvenile hurdler last season and now a high-performing chaser at an early age. Last year’s Triumph Hurdle winner has outstanding claims, having recorded a Racing Post Rating of 164 in winning the Grade 1 Irish Arkle at the Dublin Racing Festival. This is a race in which favourites do well, with eight of the last ten winning, including all seven priced at 2-1 or shorter. Britain still appears to have the main danger in Dan Skelton’s L’Eau Du Sud, also a Grade 1 winner in the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase and with more experience than the favourite after going on to make it four out of four over fences in the Grade 2 Kingmaker at Warwick. Other possibles include the Gordon Elliott-trained pair Firefox and Touch Me Not – runner-up to both Majborough and L’Eau Du Sud in their Grade 1s – along with Jango Baie, who may give Henderson a runner at least.

This prestigious 3m1f handicap chase is one of the most important of its type in the jumps season and, as well as being a major prize in its own right, often draws runners who will head on to other big races in the spring, including the Grand National. Royal Tan, Team Spirit, West Tip, Seagram, Rough Quest and Corach Rambler make up the list of horses to have won both. Corach Rambler being the most recent with consecutive Ultima Handicap wins in 2022 and 2023 before also winning the 2023 Grand National.

Coming on the same afternoon as the Champion Hurdle, this Grade 1 continues to offer an alternative route to top festival honours for the best mares – arguably to the detriment of the showpiece feature – and the old arguments have resurfaced over where Brighterdaysahead and Lossiemouth should run. The Gordon Elliott-trained Brighterdaysahead rates as the best mare around after her stunning display in the Grade 1 Neville Hotels Hurdle at the Leopardstown Christmas meeting, where she left last year’s Champion winner State Man trailing and came home 30 lengths clear. Lossiemouth won this race last year by three lengths from Telmesomethinggirl, taking Willie Mullins’ score to ten in the 17 runnings. She has raced against the boys this season, most recently taking a heavy fall four out in the Irish Champion Hurdle when going head to head with State Man. If at least one of the big two went to the Champion, the chances would improve for July Flower (Henry de Bromhead) and the Mullins pair Kargese and Jade De Grugy.

Essentially this boils down to Constitution Hill and State Man, the last two Champion winners, versus each other and possibly against one or both of Brighterdaysahead and Lossiemouth unless they go for the Mares’ Hurdle 40 minutes earlier. If they all line up, it could be a race for the ages. Even if they don’t, which seems the more likely scenario, there is still the potential for an outstanding performance from at least one of the combatants. Nicky Henderson’s Constitution Hill was magnificent in the 2023 Champion, beating State Man by nine lengths, but health issues forced him to miss last year’s race and he hasn’t yet scaled his former heights even though he remains unbeaten after ten races over hurdles. The Willie Mullins-trained State Man took the crown in his old rival’s absence 12 months ago and has a deserved reputation as ‘Mr Reliable’, although there was an off-day at Christmas before he bounced back to land a third Irish Champion Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival. Gordon Elliott’s Brighterdaysahead has beaten State Man twice this season, most eyecatchingly in that Christmas contest at Leopardstown, and rates as the best mare in training after her spectacular 30-length success. Close behind her is Mullins’ Lossiemouth, who won last year’s Mares’ Hurdle and might take the step up to the Champion this time. She has met both of her big male rivals this season, finishing well against Constitution Hill in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton but then taking a crashing fall when upsides State Man in the Irish Champion. Provided there are no lasting effects, she is capable of a big run wherever she lines up.

First run in 2005, this is a fiercely competitive and often wide-open handicap hurdle for four-year-olds only. LAST YEAR’S WINNER Jazzy Matty scored at 18-1, becoming the third winner in the past six runnings for Gordon Elliott and the sixth in a row for Ireland (fifth was the best Britain could manage last year). He was the seventh French-bred to win in 19 runnings (a French-bred has finished first or second in all but one of the last ten). Irish trainers dominate the ante-post betting with Lark In The Mornin for Joseph O’Brien, Willie Mullins’ Batman Girac and Ethical Diamond, and the Gordon Elliott-trained Wodhooh, Ndaawi and Mighty Bandit. The last home winner was in 2017 but there are decent hopes of another with Jane Williams’ Excelero and the Olly Murphy-trained Roaring Legend.

This is the longest and oldest race at the festival, although five years ago the race distance was reduced to 3m6f and with two fewer fences to jump. There are more big changes this year with the removal of the race’s Grade 2 status and its downgrading to a 0-145 novice handicap. Historically known as 'The Amateur Riders Grand National' the traditional stipulation that only amateur jockeys can ride in the race has been removed for 2025, another big change to the race. Professional jockeys did compete in 2021 however, as COVID-19 restrictions meant amateur riders were excluded from the festival.