Day One of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival is in the books.
There was no shortage of brilliant racing, nail-biting drama and heartwarming moments and there’s still three more days of action left to go, the first of those being Style Wednesday.
There’s been a fair bit of snowfall in the early hours this morning, and here’s a preview of what you can expect from the day’s racing.
1:20 – Turners Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1)
We kick off the day with the Turners Novices’ Hurdle, a race that sees over half of the runners trained by Willie Mullins. This includes one of the two favourites in the form of Final Demand, who will be ridden by Paul Townend, with the trainer and jockey combo looking to win this event for the fourth consecutive year.
The other big contender is The New Lion, trained by Dan Skelton, who is England’s best hope in the opener. Ireland have won 10 of the last 12 runnings of this event, but Skelton will be going into this with confidence that he can change that trend.
Outside these two, Nigel Twiston-Davies and Fergal O’Brien, who are both based in Gloucestershire, will also have good chances. Twiston-Davies has Potters Charm, a two-time winner at Prestbury Park, and O’Brien sends Sixmilebridge.
These two faced off at Cheltenham in January, and despite going off as the heavy favourite at 8/15, Potters Charm was beaten by Sixmilebridge at a starting price of 9/1.
Favourite – Final Demand (6/4)
2:00 – Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase (Grade 1)
There’s a clear favourite to beat in this year’s Brown Advisory, and that’s Ballyburn, who was victorious at the festival last year in the Turners Novices’ Hurdle. A strong performance could lead to the horse becoming a big contender for the 2026 Cheltenham Gold Cup, and most people are expecting him to sweep aside the competition.
All seven of the entries are Irish, with Mullins once again dominating the field with four runners, including Ballyburn and the next best according to the odds, Dancing City. Gordon Elliott also has a decent chance with Better Days Ahead, who was a winner at the festival last year, but Ballyburn at under EVS is what the majority of punters will be backing.
Favourite – Ballyburn (4/6)
2:40 – Coral Cup Hurdle
The Coral Cup is the first race of the day with a wide-open field. Dan Skelton won the race in 2023 and 2024, both times with Langer Dan, and Be Aware gives him a strong chance to win it for the third year running.
Nicky Henderson has the most wins in this race’s history with four, and Impose Toi, a winner at this course, is his top entry, but in a 26-horse race, it really is anyone’s to win.
Favourite – Be Aware (4/1)
3:20 – Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase
Stumptown comes into the Glenfarclas Cross Country off the back of victory over the same distance at Prestbury Park in December for Gavin Cromwell, and looks to be the favourite to repeat that this time around.
Galvin came second in this event in 2023 and finished in a respectable fourth place at last year’s Grand National, so he too is definitely in with a chance.
Martin Keighley, based around half an hour from Cheltenham, also has a runner in this one, with Escaria Ten going in as a highly-priced outsider. The horse ran in the same race as Stumptown in December, finishing fourth despite a starting price of 80/1.
Favourite – Stumptown (11/4)
4:00 – Queen Mother Champion Chase (Grade 1)
If the showcase event of day two is anything like yesterday, then we are certainly in for a treat.
Today it’s the Champion Chase, and Jonbon will go into it as the horse to beat. A winner of nine Grade One’s, he’ll be looking to tick off the one thing evading his CV; a win at the festival.
He’s run twice at the festival and been runner-up on both occasions, but this is by far the best chance he’s had, and a win would give Nicky Henderson his seventh victory in the race.
However, it’s certainly not a given, with two-time winner of this event Energumene bidding to be in the winner’s circle, but at 11 years old, it may now be a tough task.
Marine Nationale is the second-favourite, and a win would without doubt be dedicated to the late Michael O’Sullivan, who passed away earlier this year after a fall. O’Sullivan rode Marine Nationale to victory at the festival in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2023, and it would be an emotional day for all connections if victory was the outcome.
Favourite – Jonbon (EVS)
4:40 – Grand Annual Handicap Chase
Unlike most of the events this week, this one has been dominated by the English in recent years, with the last four winners being from England. This includes two Gloucestershire trainers in the form of Ben Pauling with Global Citizen in 2022 and Jonjo O’Neill with Sky Pirate in 2021.
One of the favourites for this rendition is Jazzy Matty, who won at the festival in 2023 under the aforementioned Michael O’Sullivan on the same day that he led Marine Nationale to victory.
Another is last year’s winner Unexpected Party who has a great chance to go back-to-back for Dan Skelton.
Gloucestershire-based Fergal O’Brien has Third Time Lucki, a horse who was previously trained by Skelton. However, in three runs under O’Brien, he hasn’t found too much success.
Favourite – Unexpected Party (13/2)
5:20 – Champion Bumper
When it comes to domination of a single event, you don’t need to look any further than Willie Mullins in the Champion Bumper. The Irishman is a 13-time winner of this race, including four of the last five, and going off the betting odds, four of the top five in this year’s rendition are trained by Mullins.
The best horse not trained by the most successful trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival is Kalypso’chance, who runs for Gordon Elliott, and Fergal O’Brien once again has an outside shot with Highland Haven.
Favourite – Copacabana (4/1)
It’s sure to be another entertaining day, and you can keep up to date with all the action on the Park Life Sport social media channels.
