Cheltenham Favourites Guide – Most Fancied Festival Runners

Jamie Clark

Senior sports editor

Updated: 12 March 2025

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One of two things will happen to Cheltenham favourites – either they win during the Festival or they lose. With the weight of public opinion behind them, some rise to the occasion while others don’t deliver.

In this guide to the current market leaders at the Cheltenham Festival, we assess the most popular horses with punters taking part in championship races. There are bumps in the road, so the current favourite may end up replaced by another horse come the off.

The Significance of Cheltenham Favourites Today

Market leaders for feature races at any horse racing event shouldn’t be lost on punters. The ante-post betting on major galas like the Cheltenham Festival can end up with a very different picture on the day.

Just because a horse is among the favourites for Cheltenham today doesn’t mean they will be tomorrow. Markets are nothing if not fluid, reacting to events on and off the track. All Cheltenham odds reflect implied probability at the end of the day suggesting some horses have better chances than others.

The shortest price runners are Cheltenham race favourites, but they come with no guarantees. It is far from certain that short-priced favourites will produce on the track. Let the market be your guide.

There is always a chance that a dark horse or longshot outsider will upset Cheltenham favourites at Prestbury Park. Punters have to decide whether the subjective concept of value lies.

Either side with the below market leaders come the Festival, or take them on with opposition. Looking over past editions and Cheltenham results might help with that decision.

One thing you can be sure relating to favourites for the Cheltenham Festival is they face competition. The strength in depth of individual races differ, but victories are earned on the Old and New Courses.

Cheltenham Festival Favourites Race by Race

Depending on what stage of the season you look at Cheltenham betting sites, it’s not always clear who the favourite is for every single one of the 28 races during the Festival. Entries for the handicap chase and handicap hurdle races don’t come out until late February, for example.

The Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle on Gold Cup day always has a particularly murky look to it ante-post too. Where there are clear favourites at Cheltenham today, it’s worth assessing those particular horses in more detail. That’s what this page is all about.

Supreme Novices’ Hurdle – Kopek Des Bordes

After an impressive and effortless step up to the highest level at the Dublin Racing Festival, the unbeaten Kopek Des Bordes is more than a talking horse. He landed his Willie Mullins stable debut last Easter with an impressive success in a valuable Sales bumper at Fairyhouse.

Kopek Des Bordes catapulted himself to one of the Cheltenham favourites on the opening day of the Festival after consecutive Leopardstown victories. Scratchy jumping was the only criticism on his winning hurdles bow there over Christmas.

The marked improvement from Kopek Des Bordes when following-up in the Grade 1 Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle saw him displace stable companion Salvator Mundi as favourite for the Supreme. As yet unraced outside the Emerald Isle, he laid a serious marker down during the DRF and is one of the obvious Cheltenham tips for the Festival’s opening day.

Arkle Chase – Majborough

Robbed of a mouth-watering clash with the unbeaten Sir Gino due to an infection, Majborough replaced him as Arkle Chase favourite four weeks before the race. Unbeaten in two starts over fences, the 2024 Triumph Hurdle winner is now a firm fancy to follow-up with more Cheltenham Festival success here.

Trained by Willie Mullins, whose recent Arkle record of six wins in the last decade really is excellent, Majborough has only had five racecourse outings in his career. Since his purchase from France by leading owner JP McManus, he has also won the Irish equivalent of this very race at the Dublin Racing Festival.

In the absence of Sir Gino, few Cheltenham favourites will be strong than Majborough. He is low yet reasonably accurate at his fences, but learning on the job all the time. An Irish-English Arkle double also achieved by the likes of El Fabiolo, Footpad, Douvan and Un De Sceaux within the same stable since 2015 beckons.

Champion Hurdle – Constitution Hill

Despite setbacks with injuries and illness, Constitution Hill remains a force in the Champion Hurdle division. He defied a year’s absence for a historic third Kempton Christmas Hurdle victory on reappearance.

Nicky Henderson seeks a record-extending tenth Champion Hurdle triumph as a trainer and second with Constitution Hill. Talented but fragile, he naturally has to be among the Cheltenham favourites if turning up at the Festival this year.

The downside with Constitution Hill is how little we have seen him on the track in recent times. With just three races under his belt since the spring of 2023, this equine superstar could face a couple of mares that he must give 7lb to.

Champion Hurdle – Brighterdaysahead

Connections of Brighterdaysahead must choose which Festival race to go for. She is prominent in the Champion Hurdle betting, but also has the option of stepping back up in trip and taking on fellow females in the Mares’ Hurdle.

Brighterdaysahead looks like one of the strongest Cheltenham favourites around today if she runs against her own sex. She lost her unbeaten record at the Festival last year when Golden Ace had too much speed for her in the Dawn Run.

A race fitness edge definitely helped Brighterdaysahead lower the colours of State Man in the Morgiana Hurdle during the Punchestown Premiere Weekend in November. She has since confirmed the form in emphatic style with December Hurdle success at Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival.

Gordon Elliott won the Mares’ Hurdle for Gigginstown House Stud with Apple’s Jade. Brighterdaysahead is their latest star but, although many wonder-mares like Honeysuckle and Epatante have gone down the Champion Hurdle route in recent years, this one needs to sharpen up her jumping.

Mares’ Hurdle – Lossiemouth

Last year’s Mares’ Hurdle heroine Lossiemouth is among Cheltenham Festival favourites, again for both a successful defence of her crown and the Champion Hurdle. Her impressive defeat of Stayers’ Hurdle scorer Teahupoo (more on him below) in the Hatton’s Grace at Fairyhouse confirmed just how classy she is.

Lossiemouth beat a stamina-laden horse in the race he had won the two previous seasons without coming off the bridle. Connections toyed with the idea of a Champion Hurdle campaign for her last term, but decided to wait. That decision could pay off with Lossiemouth.

She lost little in defeat in the Christmas Hurdle around Kempton to 2023 Champion Hurdle hero Constitution Hill. That incredibly tight track didn’t play to her strengths, so Lossiemouth’s options are still open. Her fall in the Irish Champion Hurdle came too early in the race to know for sure how the duel with State Man would’ve played out.

It is a tall order for any gelding conceding a 7lb sex allowance against a mare with such a fine track record and all her ability. Lossiemouth has Triumph Hurdle and International Hurdle wins on her CV, so two miles at Cheltenham is no problem for her.

Despite this, she featured in the Mares’ Hurdle for final declarations. Lossiemouth swerves the Champion Hurdle this year for easier pickings.

Turners Novices’ Hurdle – The New Lion

Unbeaten in four career starts and purchased by JP McManus after his Challow Hurdle victory at Newbury, The New Lion is a top prospect for the Festival. Dan Skelton has realistic hopes of winning the Baring Bingham, run this year under the registered title of the Turners Novices’ Hurdle, with him.

The New Lion barely came off the bridle when taking his form to a whole new level over the festive period. It’s only logical, therefore, that he’s one of the Cheltenham favourites in the novice hurdle division.

Potters Charm, who has course experience, is also a leading hope for the home team in this race. The New Lion won’t fear that rival or The Yellow Clay, an Irish raider that might be better suited by the greater stamina test of the Albert Bartlett.

Turners Novices’ Hurdle – Final Demand

Rapidly improving staying hurdler Final Demand is another unbeaten Mullins mount going into the Cheltenham Festival. Purchased by owners Bryan Drew and Prof Caroline Tisdall after landing his Irish Point, he has since won both of his hurdles outings.

A successful stable debut around Limerick over Christmas saw him score in a canter. Final Demand then made an effortless step up into Grade 1 company in the old Golden Cygnet at the Dublin Racing Festival. He is now among the Cheltenham favourites for both the Turners and Albert Bartlett races.

Final Demand wasn’t stopping at the end of 2m 6f around Leopardstown. He was just getting started. Mullins instead drops him back in trip, rather than subject this top prospect to the slog of the Albert Bartlett, but he’s a strong travelling embryonic staying chaser perhaps best suited by long distances going forwards.

Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase – Ballyburn

An impressive 13-length winner of the Baring Bingham in 2024, this is one of the most exciting horses in training over jumps. Ballyburn had opposition running scared from him at last year’s Festival, leading home a 1-2-3-4-5 for the Willie Mullins stable.

Victories either side of being one of the shortest Cheltenham favourites of recent times at 1/2 during the Dublin Racing Festival and Punchestown Festivals meant he had the world at his feet.

Connections made the decision to go chasing with Ballyburn and the longer trip of the Brown Advisory, registered as the Broadway on the Cheltenham Festival race card, is his target now. This is because he won an Irish Point and a couple of Punchestown bumpers.

Ballyburn isn’t short of pace despite a stamina-laden pedigree. He lost little in defeat to Sir Gino in the Wayward Lad around Kempton, then bounced back at the Dublin Racing Festival and bids to emulate Willie Mullins stable companions Fact To File and Monkfish as recent winners of the three-mile novice chase at Cheltenham.

Queen Mother Champion Chase – Jonbon

Being a full-brother to Douvan meant Jonbon was tipped to be among future Cheltenham winners destined for greatness. He cost owner JP McManus a pretty penny, but just needs a Festival win on his CV to match his sibling. It hasn’t happened yet, but there’s still time.

Jonbon finished second in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and Arkle Chase as a novice over fences. He missed last year’s Festival when a virus in the yard meant most of Henderson’s Seven Barrows string sat the big meeting out.

Mullins has tons of ammunition to take on Jonbon. He might be one of the Cheltenham favourites today, but the likes of Gaelic Warrior and old rival El Fabiolo could also deny him a deserved Champion Chase triumph.

This isn’t a lucky race for Mullins, however, and Henry De Bromhead has done as well as anyone else apart from Henderson in this race in recent years. Jonbon has certainly stamped his authority on the British two-mile chasing scene with a second Tingle Creek Chase success at Sandown and his defeat of Energumene in the Clarence House Chase around Ascot, but dangers still lie across the Irish Sea.

Dawn Run / Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle – Sixandahalf

Campaigned on the Flat last summer after starting off in bumpers, Sixandahalf is one of the big hopes at Cheltenham races today for her stable. Gavin Cromwell named the novice hurdle for mares at the Festival as her big spring target.

Rated 94 on the level after Newmark fillies’ handicap success and a good third in the Irish Cesarewitch, Sixandahalf is obviously a classy recruit to this sphere. She made an impressive hurdling debut around Fairyhouse in January.

Given her Flat experience, she has every right to be among Cheltenham favourites in what is admittedly often a race with unknown quantities in it. Sixandahalf could be very useful, although plenty of others have chances including four-year-old Galileo Dame getting weight for age.

Dawn Run / Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle – Maughreen

A full sister to Grade 2 novice chase winner Blow Your Wad, Maughreen has local connections to her stable. Owned by the Closutton Racing Club who twice struck at Grade 3 level with fellow mare Shewearsitwell, she made her much-anticipated hurdling bow at Punchestown towards the end of January.

Maughreen has done little wrong in landing both a bumper and that first taste of obstacles. She shortened among Cheltenham favourites for the Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, run under Ryanair sponsorship this season.

Willie Mullins hasn’t won that race since 2020, but has an unbeaten contender in Maughreen. Given the five-week gap between the Festival and Easter Sunday this season, it is possible we shall see this mare step back up in trip into Grade 1 company at Fairyhouse later on in the spring.

Ryanair Chase – Fact To File

It’s a rare enough thing these days to send a horse straight over fences without jumping any hurdles, but that is the story of Fact To File. He went from a top-notch bumper performer to tackling the larger obstacles and has since notched a hat-trick of successes at the highest level.

What Fact To File beat in his novice campaign is open to question, but there’s no crabbing the form of his John Durkan Chase win at Punchestown. He held owner companion Spillane’s Tower then with established Irish staying chasers Galopin Des Champs and Fastorslow in-behind.

The sky’s the limit for Fact To File and the Ryanair Chase could be his Festival target. It’s easy to see why he’s also among Cheltenham Gold Cup favourites this season despite Savills Chase defeat at the hands of older stable companion Galopin Des Champs around Leopardstown over the Christmas period. The Ryanair looks more likely now after that one confirmed the form in the Irish Gold Cup.

Stayers’ Hurdle – Teahupoo

Previous winners of the Stayers’ Hurdle have a good record coming back for more. Just look at Paul Nicholls legend Big Buck’s. Teahupoo has some way to go to match that one’s four consecutive wins in the contest, but looks the best long-distance hurdler around today.

He goes well fresh, but is the obvious starting point for one of the weaker divisions of the National Hunt code. Teahupoo went through last season unbeaten with a second Hatton’s Grace Hurdle before victories at the Cheltenham and Punchestown Festivals.

Although defeated by Lossiemouth at Fairyhouse on reappearance, he lost little. Teahupoo just didn’t have the speed conceding 7lb to the mare. He is thus one of the more solid Cheltenham favourites in his bid to repeat the dose of Stayers’ Hurdle success in 2025.

Opposition to Teahupoo here may include Strong Leader, Lucky Place and Crambo. So-called failed chasers who are Cheltenham non runners elsewhere may come back over hurdles and take him on, but he’s definitely the one to beat.

Triumph Hurdle – Lulamba

Usurped East India Dock as favourite for a race where the picture changes a lot. Triumph Hurdle horses can emerges as late as February, so winning the big four-year-olds only Grade 1 at Cheltenham isn’t easy. Lulamba looks to give Nicky Henderson a record eighth win in this.

Impressing current connections when scoring on his debut in France enough to fork out for him, he duly followed-up beating a useful Flat convert without coming off the bridle at Ascot. There were lots of vibes about Lulamba being another useful horse for the team behind the late Shishkin and Sir Gino.

Cheltenham races favourites in both the Triumph and Fred Winter shift a lot from ante post to on the day. What Lulamba brings to the table is an unbeaten record. He’s done nothing wrong but must take his form up a notch come the Festival.

A Triumph Hurdle demands more, though, and Irish trainers seem to have farmed the race since Tiger Roll launched his career in 2014 here. The young horses taking part in this contest have to stay with the race run on the even more galloping New Course.

Mares’ Chase – Dinoblue

The last of the Cheltenham favourites before the Gold Cup is 2024 Mares’ Chase runner-up Dinoblue. On what will almost certainly be better going than 12 months ago, the feeling is she can go one better. Last term’s conqueror Limerick Lace just isn’t in the same form.

Dinoblue, a Grade 1 winner in open company before, gave weight and a beating to old rival and stablemate Allegorie De Vassy in the Opera Hat at Naas on her latest outing. Better off at the weights with that one and owner companion Limerick Lace from last year, she should now deliver.

Talented novice Only By Night goes down the Arkle route, which also helps the cause of Dinoblue. JP McManus keeps on winning his race with his mares. Dinoblue’s placed efforts in big races like the Punchestown Champion Chase and Hilly Way at Cork suggest she’s a major player.

Cheltenham Gold Cup Favourites

Going into the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, four of the last five market leaders in the Gold Cup have won. This is down to a couple of recent multiple winners of the meeting’s blue riband steeplechase. The feature race went through a similar period of high success for favourites between 2003 and 2007.

In the intervening years, only four horses at the head of the Cheltenham Gold Cup betting did the business. What’s clear from this is the biggest race of all is just like any other horse race. Let’s take a look at the favourite this time around:

Galopin Des Champs

Dual Gold Cup hero Galopin Des Champs aims to match the achievements of Arkle, Best Mate and Cottage Rake as a three-time winner. Regular rider Paul Townend is already one of the most successful jockeys in the race’s history with four victories since 2019.

Galopin Des Champs probably no longer has the speed to be effective down over two-and-a-half miles. Defeat in the John Durkan last season didn’t stop him from retaining his Cheltenham crown and he looked as good as ever when landing the Savills Chase again over Christmas.

A third Irish Gold Cup then followed for Galopin Des Champs also at Leopardstown, where he is near unbeatable. He then seeks to cement his status as an all-time steeplechasing great at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival.

Stats on How Recent Cheltenham Favourites Performed

The table below contains data from the last six editions of the Cheltenham Festival and which races that favourites (including joint and co-favourites) won each year. It reveals that market leaders do better in some races than others.

No favourite has won either the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, Mares’ Chase or Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle, all run on Gold Cup day in the timeframe, for example. There are common races on the Cheltenham schedule which market leaders do deliver, though:

FAQs

Jamie Clark

Senior sports editor

Jamie Clark has been covering the Cheltenham Festival for over a decade, firstly during his time as the Sports Editor of Coral bookmakers. His father and godfather ran a trackside bookie's pitch at Market Rasen for many years, so horse racing is in his blood. Very much a specialist in the sport, Jamie is our go-to expert on all things Cheltenham.

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