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Evening Standard

Malik Ouzia

Cheltenham Festival 2025 day one schedule and betting tips as Constitution Hill returns today

Constitution Hill Cheltenham Festival Cheltenham Festival Lossiemouth (Person) Willie Mullins

The ‘Greatest Show on Turf’ begins today - (Getty Images)

The Cheltenham Festival gets underway later today, with tens of thousands of racegoers again set to flood Prestbury Park for Jumps racing’s biggest meeting.

There will be a poignant start to the meeting, with the traditional Festival opener this year renamed as the Michael O’Sullivan Supreme Novices’s Hurdle in memory of the young jockey who won the race two years ago but tragically died following a fall at Thurles last month.

CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW DAY ONE OF THE CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL LIVE!

An epic clash between Constitution Hill and Brighterdaysahead is promised in the feature race, the Champion Hurdle, while the Arkle and Mares Hurdle are also among four Grade 1s on the seven-race card.

Here’s what’s in store…

Big Race Preview: Champion Hurdle

Two years ago, Nicky Henderson’s superstar Constitution Hill dominated this contest to confirm his ascendancy to the top of the hurdling ranks but after missing the 2024 renewal is now seeking to become the first horse in more than a decade to regain the crown.

After a turbulent year in which physical issues and illness kept British racing’s most high-profile horse off the track, he made a triumphant return to action when beating Lossiemouth at Kempton on Boxing Day and warmed up for the Festival with a Trials Day victory that was little more than a gentle workout at the end of January.

And so, while fears during that long absence that he might never race again have proven unfounded, the question remains as to whether the unbeaten eight-year-old is still the same untouchable force of old.

He may well have to be to take care of a small but high-class field, which includes last year’s winner State Man as only the third-favourite on account of a confusing campaign.

Instead it is Gordon Elliott’s Brighterdaysahead who bookmakers expect to pose the biggest threat, after her 30-length rout in the Irish equivalent of this race last month. Seemingly destined for the Mares’s Hurdle on the same card, Elliott and owners Gigginstown last week confirmed they would roll the dice in seeking to deliver a first Champion Hurdle for the trainer.

Lossiemouth, though, has been re-routed in the opposite direction, much to the dismay of racing fans hoping to see a quartet of headliners in action. Golden Ace, winner of the Mares Novices’s Hurdle at Cheltenham last year, and Burdett Road, are among the outsiders.

The best of the rest…

Racing fans were robbed of another standout clash between the best of the British and the Irish when Sir Gino was ruled out of Arkle contention through injury earlier this year.

His absence leaves Majborough, last year’s Triumph Hurdle winner for Willie Mullins, as many people’s idea of the banker of the opening day, though British champion trainer-elect Dan Skelton remains bullish about the chance of L’eau Du Sud springing a surprise.

Before that, the hugely talented Kopek Des Bordes will look to give Mullins an eighth win in the Supreme, but plenty of punters will be willing to take on a horse whose jumping and pre-race antics are potential flaws. Stablemate Salvator Mundi, who has divided opinion this season, and Elliott’s Romeo Coolio are leading rivals in a race where Irish success appears almost inevitable, while there has been market support for Workahead, who is looking to give Rachael Blackmore and Henry De Bromhead back-to-back wins in the race.

Elsewhere, the defection of Lossiemouth to the Mares Hurdle has seen her installed as a short-priced favourite, while the National Hunt Chase ought to make strong betting appeal having this year been converted into a handicap.