Blackmore at the double
Rachael Blackmore, who was the first female jockey to win the prize for the festival’s leading rider in 2021, added another significant achievement to her Cheltenham record on Thursday as she steered Bob Olinger to an 8-1 success in the Stayers’ Hurdle, the only one of the five biggest races at the meeting that had previously eluded her.
Bob Olinger was the apparent second-string of two runners in the colours of owner Brian Acheson, behind the favourite and defending champion, Teahupoo, from the Gordon Elliott yard. Bob Olinger, though, boasted a proud festival record, having won Grade One events here in both 2021 and 2022.
Henry de Bromhead’s 10-year-old was a 20-1 shot on Thursday morning, but plenty of support forced his price down to 8-1 at the off and Blackmore delivered him with impeccable timing to take the measure of Teahupoo at the final flight.
Greg Wood looks ahead to Friday, the final day of Cheltenham 2025.
The biggest story of the day happened in the world of Flat racing.
The day was about Fact To File and Rachael Blackmore, who has won all four feature races at Cheltenham now.
Gold Cup – A Plus Tard, 2022
Champion Chase – Captain Guinness, 2024
Champion Hurdle – Honeysuckle, 2021 and 2022
Stayers’ Hurdle – Bob Ollinger, 2025
Plus two wins on the Ryanair Chase: Alaho (2021) and Envoi Allen (2022)
Plus, she’s won the Grand National, too, in 2021 on Minella Times. Truly one of the greatest National Hunt jockeys we have ever seen.
Your races and winners from St Patrick’s Thursday.
1.20. Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 2)
Air Of Entitlement, starting price 16/1
2.00 Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase (Grade 2)
Caldwell Potter, starting price 7/1
2.40 Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle
Doddiethegreat, starting price 25/1
3.20 Ryanair Chase (Grade 1)
Fact To File, starting price 6/4 Fav
4.00 Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle (Grade 1)
Bob Olinger, starting price 8/1
4.40 TrustATrader Plate Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap)
Jagwar, starting price 3/1
5.20 Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Amateur Jockeys’ Handicap Chase
Daily Present, starting price 12/1
Barry Connell, a seven-pound claimer, beating Derek O’Connor is quite a story. DOC is the amateur king. Every race has had it story to tell. Only Fact To File in the Ryanair going anything like to script. What a strange trip this Cheltenham festival has been.
Cheltenham 5.20 result
1. Daily Present (Mr Barry Thomas Stone) 12-1
2. Johnnywho (Mr Derek O’Connor) 9-2 Fav
3. Sa Majeste (Mr P W Mullins) 8-1
4. Weveallbeencaught (Mr Toby McCain-Mitchell) 28-1
23 ran
Daily Present wins the 5.20 Fulke Walkwyn Kim Muir Chase
Four from home, Sa Majeste seeks to make all. Johnny Who is going well. Gina Andrews on Man of the People. JohnyWho has plenty of horse left. But Daily Present jumps the last better and has more space. Paul Nolan is the trainer, and he chins Johnny Who and Derek O’Connor.
Updated
5.20 Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Chase
Sa Majeste, taken on by Git Maker for leadership as they strip past the Best Mate and into the sunlight. Walking On Air almost went, the fairytale looks unlikely. Mint Boy has gone at the 15th. Derek O’Connor on Johnny Who is trapping round.
5.20 Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Chase
Up the hill, they follow Sa Majeste, Midnight Our Fred involved. Walking On Air back in midfield as they descend the hill. Nine fences cleared as they make their way past the emptied stands. Grozni has been a key player so far.
5.20 Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Chase
Guess what? False start. The tape back out. They walked from a long way out. So, a standing start. Oh, there’s a delay. Sine Domine is shown to the vet and off…Sa Majeste and Midnight Our Fred are up there. The dusk is descending, as they go into the country. Sine Domine is at the back. Walking On Air has lost his early prominence.
In this last race, Alan O’Sullivan, brother of Michael, as remembered by Jonjo Jnr, will ride Walking On Air. After Marine Nationale and Jazzy Matty, and what Jonjo Jnr has said, the emotion will be on the horses’ side. This is an amateur jockeys’ race.
Four of the six odds-on favourites over the first two days of this year’s festival were beaten, leaving many punters in a deep hole ahead of the last day of the meeting on Friday. It will be the most significant shock of all, however, if Galopin Des Champs (4.00) does not deliver for the backers in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and join the very select list of horses to have won the race three times.
Having beaten double-figure fields in the last two runnings, Willie Mullins’s chaser faces eight opponents this time around, and while the unexpected addition of Inothewayurthinkin, the favourite for next month’s Grand National, to the lineup adds some intrigue, he was seven lengths behind Galopin Des Champs at Leopardstown.
5:20 market movers via Oddspedia
Yeah Man 16/1 into 11/1
Daily Present 40/1 into 20/1
5.20 Kim Muir Challenge Cup
Walking On Air 11/2
Johnnywho 6/1
Midnight Our Fred 7/1
Sa Majeste 8/1
Mint Boy 9/1
Yeah Man 12/1
Git Maker 12/1
Nine Graces 16/1
Wiseguy 20/1
Westerninthepark 20/1
BAR 22/1 – 23 Runners
Key Race Trends
Only two of the past 12 favourites have won this race.
11 of the last 12 winners carried 11st or more.
5.20 FULKE WALWYN KIM MUIR CHALLENGE CUP HANDICAP CHASE, 3M 2F preview
Following the slightly controversial decision to open up the National Hunt Chase to professional riders, this is now one of just two races at the meeting for amateurs, which leaves the services of the very best of them at even more of a premium (if, indeed, that is possible when they are not actually getting paid). Derek O’Connor has been among the very best of the amateurs for years and he is going for his third win in this race since 2019 aboard Johnnywho, while Patrick Mullins is aboard another runner in the JP McManus colours, Sa Majeste. Noel McParlan, another big name on the Irish pointing circuit, will also fancy his chances on Midnight Our Fred, although it may also be worth bearing in mind that there have been two 40-1 winners in this race in the last eight years.
SELECTION: JOHNNYWHO.
Cheltenham 4.40 result
1 Jagwar (Jonjo O’Neill Jr.) 3-1 Fav
2 Thecompanysergeant (C Stone-Walsh) 4-1
3 Masaccio (Tom Cannon) 11-1
4 Mars Harper (Tiernan Power Roche) 100-1
20 ran
Non Runner: 19
Updated
A big win for Jagwar, who had to dig his way out of trouble. “He’s always had ability,” says Jonjo Jnr. “It’s a job I really enjoy. I had my first festival winner and it’s felt like a lifetime. Since Mikey die I changed my perspectobe…this is just sport at the end of the day. The English and Irish jockeys have been under a cloud. Mikey touched so many people in 24 years. I said a couple of prayers to Michael this morning and he’s come up trumps..”
Jagwar wins the 4.40 pm Plate Chase
Personal Ambition and Seddon up front. Conflated is up there, too. With Seddon to the third last. Thecompanysargaent on the outside. Conflated leads Jagwar over the last. Thecompanysargaent and Jagwar, to the line. It’s Jagwar, the gamble is landed for the McManus colour under Jonjo O’Neill Jnr.
Updated
4.40 pm Plate Chase
Jagwar sits off the front. Shakemupharry, who his owner, Harry Redknapp, says he has not bet on, is in midfield. Personal Ambition leads with fully 10 more to hump. Down the side they go. Conflated, the old boy, is enjoying himself. Il Riddoto doesn’t look to fancy it.
4.40 pm Plate Chase
Jagwar backed off the boards as they go off, the McManus camp clearly fancy their horse. Plenty of plots for this one. A Cheltenham handicap is always difficult to land. They start with the stands behind them. We await the attendance figures. They attempt to start in a line, steadily so, and the start is stopped….zzzz. Mick Fitz has found a shoe – a horseshoe, it should be said. They go from a standing starr. Jordans among the first to go.
4.40 TRUSTATRADER PLATE HANDICAP CHASE, 2M 4F 127YD
A tricky conclusion to the card with two big fields of handicap chasers kicks off with the Plate, over the trip which features in a series of similar races at meetings here from October through to January. Il Ridoto, the winner of the Paddy Power Gold Cup in November, is one familiar name in the field, along with Gemirande, who took the December Gold Cup a month later, while both Jagwar and Masaccio, first and third in a race here on Trials day at the end of January – are towards the head of the betting. I fancy that Masaccio, who enjoys a 6lb pull in the weights, might just able to turn the form around but this is never a race where you can be too certain about anything.
SELECTION: MASACCIO
4:40 market movers via Oddspedia
Thecompanysargaent 10/1 into 9/2
Ginny’s Destiny 16/1 into 10/1
4.40 TrustATrader Plate odds
Jagwar 7/2
Thecompanysergeant 9/2
Masaccio 8/1
Jordans 8/1
Ginny’s Destiny 10/1
Personal Ambition 12/1
An Peann Dearg 16/1
Path Doroux 22/1
Fugitif 22/1
Conflated 25/1
BAR 25/1 – 20 Runners
Key Race Trends
Only 4 of the previous 12 winners have come from inside the top three in the betting.
Nine of the last 12 winners carried between 10st8lbs and 11st4lbs.
Updated
Crambo and Home By The Lee are both OK, as it stands. Jonny Burke, on the former, took a heavy one. Jack Kennedy was limping as he got off Teahupoo. The Gordon Elliott team keeps rattling the crossbar. Rachael Blackmore meanwhile takes a ginger celebration in the parade ring; she’s had her fair share of knocks, too.
Henry de Bromhead, the winning trainer: “Rachael was brilliant on him. Home By The Lee was unlucky, we got on the right side. She’s an incredible lady. He’s unbeaten round here, he’s incredible, such a dude.”
Such a cool ride by Rachael Blackmore, the queen of Cheltenham. “He was brilliant, he has so much speed. Everyone had the same plan. It either works riding like that or he doesn’t. He’s unbeaten run here. He’s had luck on his side and he’s a very good horse.
Updated
Cheltenham 4.00 result
1 Bob Olinger (Rachael Blackmore) 8-1
2 Teahupoo (J W Kennedy) 7-4 Fav
3 The Wallpark (M P Walsh) 7-1
13 ran
Also: 28-1 Rocky’s Diamond 4th
4.00 Stayers’ Hurdle
At the last, Teahupoo, Bob Olinger launches a challenge and goes clear for Rachael Blackmore and Henry de Bromhead, to make it a three-times winner at the Festival.
4.00 Stayers’ Hurdle
That fall has displaced the rail. Emergency repairs being made. Rocky’s Diamond and Gal Road are at the front. Teahupoo on the premises. Bob Olinger is creeping up at the last.
4.00 Stayers’ Hurdle
Rocky’s Diamond is there with Gal Road. An error from Teahupoo? A wobble, at least. Lucky Place is in third as they approach the stands…Crambo has gone. Home By The Lee is impeded and sets off as a loose horse into the countryside.
4.00 Stayers’ Hurdle
They start in front of the furthest stands, the sounds of champagne corks popping off. Gal Road takes it up at the first. Crambo is well placed, too, for the O’Brien stable – Fergal, not Joseph . Bob Ollinger sits off at the back. Teahupoo is covered up in midfield.
Ken Pitterson, ITV paddock expert, calls out for Lucky Place as looking the best in his coat. Teahupoo goes off 7/4 fav. Gemma Collins was just on ITV, a real tour de force it was, too.
Updated
JP McManus spoke to the BBC about Fact To File: “I’m delighted with him. I had a lot of faith in him. It was tempting to go for the Gold Cup and hopefully, we’ll go for that another time. The quick pace suited him and it was a very uncomplicated ride. It was exciting. Anything is possible. It was a close call for this year. The fast pace suited him and he wouldn’t have minded the ground a softer either.”
Here we go in the division that has never quite caught the imagination since the days of Big Buck’s followed Inglis Drever and the great Baracouda.
More detail on that Frankie Dettori story.
Updated
If Fact To File aims for the Gold Cup next year, what about this year?
Unlike Mullins’s Al Boum Photo, who came up short as a 9-4 shot when attempting a third straight win in 2021, it is very hard to see Galopin Des Champs being beaten.
4.00 Stayers’ Hurdle odds
Odds via Oddschecker
Teahupoo 2/1
The Wallpark 5/1
Protektorat 11/2Home By The Lee 7/1
Bob Olinger 10/1
Catch Him Derry 14/1
Mystical Power16/1
Nemean Lion 22/1
Rocky’s Diamond 28/1
Gowel Road 28/1
BAR 33/1 – 13 Runners
Key Race Trends
Only 3 of the past 12 SP favourites have won this race.
Updated
4.00 PADDY POWER STAYERS’ HURDLE, GRADE ONE, 2M 7F 213YD preview
Gordon Elliott has not been having a week to remember thus far, but he has a very strong hand in the staying hurdlers’ Grade one with both the favourite and last year’s winner, Teahupoo, and the up-and-coming second-favourite, The Wallpark, who has attracted plenty of money today. Teahupoo has had the same light prep that he enjoyed last year before getting off the mark in this race at the second attempt, while The Wallpark has been kept fresh since finishing a running-on fourth in the Long Walk at Ascot in December. The main opposition to the Elliott team seems likely to come from Home By The Lee, third behind Teahupoo last year and a Grade One winner at Leopardstown last time out, and also Nicky Henderson’s Lucky Place, rumoured to have been tearing up the gallops since landing the Grade Two Relkeel Hurdle here on New Year’s Day. The mercurial Mystical Power – by Galileo out of the Champion Hurdle winner, Annie Power – also rates a mention, as he has been woefully out of form this season but would have a fair chance if he could recapture his Grade One-winning form at Aintree and Punchestown last spring.
SELECTION: TEAHUPOO
KEY FORM:
Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle, Cheltenham, 14 Mar 24 (Teahupoo, Home By The Lee)
Long Walk Hurdle, Ascot, 21 Dec 24 (The Wallpark).
“He’ll probably be a Gold Cup horse next year, JP [McManus, owner] said he didn’t want him to have a hard race this year,” says trainer Willie Mullins, who has pulled in six winners already.
Cheltenham 3.20 result
1. Fact To File (M P Walsh) 6-4 Fav
2. Heart Wood (D J O’Keeffe) 18-1
3, Envoi Allen (Rachael Blackmore) 12-1
9 ran
Also: 5-1 Protektorat 4th
“That was brilliant,” says Mark Walsh. “We’ve run into Galopin de Champs twice. No point trying it a third time. I love it. It’s a dream to ride horses like this.”
Fact To File wins the Ryanair Chase by a street
Fact To File closes in on Il Est Francais. With two to go, Fact To File leads, and he is well clear. He’s well clear, and has the race in his hands. Why wasn’t he in the Gold Cup? Envoi Allen comes in third behind Heart Wood. Il Est Francais came back in the field.
Updated
3.20 Ryanair Chase
With eight to go, Il Est Francais is leading, as expected. Seven out, Jungle Boogie boobs but Fact To File is not troubled. Five out, and the French horse stays clear.
3.20 Ryanair Chase
Past the stand, Danny Mullins leads on Jungle Boogie. Djelo sits right off the back. Here goes Il Est Francais as they swing past the Best Mate stand and into open country.
3.20 Ryanair Chase
They go away first time, and it’s Jungle Boogie who leads. Il Est Francais not quick to take it up. Djelo sits at the back. Fact To File sits off the third-placed French horse. He seems happy to sit off the lead under James Reveley.
Money coming in for Il Est Francais, too. Fact To File drifting like a barge?
Fact To File heads to the course. Should he be running in the Gold Cup? We’re about to find out. Money has come in on Djelo – a Venetia Williams plot?
Updated
Frankie Dettori files for bankruptcy
News from elsewhere, from the flat, a statement from the legendary jockey.
“For the last six months, my advisors have been working with HMRC in an attempt to find a solution to my financial situation. Regretfully, I will be filing for bankruptcy.
I am saddened and embarrassed by this outcome and would advise others to take a stronger rein over their financial matters. Bankruptcy is a major decision and its consequences will affect me for many years.”
3:20 market movers via Oddspedia
Djelo (10/1 into 6/1)
Envoi Allen (14/1 into 10/1)
3.20 Ryanair Chase
Fact To File 13/8
Il Est Francais 4/1
Protektorat 7/1
Djelo 7/1
Envoi Allen 11/1
Catch Him Derry 14/1
Jungle Boogie 16/1
Heart Wood 16/1
Master Chewy 40/1
Hang In There 125/1
Key Race Trends
Seven of the last 10 renewals of this race have been won by the favourite.
3.20 RYANAIR CHASE, GRADE ONE, 2M 4F 127YD PREVIEW
Quite possibly the race of the day, for all that it sits in the “No.2” slot on the card, 40 minutes before the Stayers’ at 4pm, and a genuinely tri-nation contest to boot with leading candidates from Ireland, Britain and France. Il Est Francais, who arrives from the Chantilly stable of Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm, is the potential star turn if he can reproduce the bold-jumping, front-running style that saw him lead the King George field for much of the way at this very different track, while the drop back in trip should also suit Fact To File, a Grade One winner here last year who ran well for a long way behind Galopin Des Champs in the Irish Gold Cup last time. Protektorat, last year’s winner, is also back for another crack, although this looks like a stronger renewal, while Venetia Williams’s Djelo, who landed a Grade Two at Newbury last time out, has also been popular with the punters this morning. Among the bigger prices, Henry de Bromhead has three runners including festival regular Envoi Allen, the winner of this two years ago and also successful in the Bumper in 2019 and the two-and-a-half mile novice hurdle a year later. Another interesting runner from the yard, meanwhile, is Jungle Boogie, who has had an injury-blighted career but rarely runs a bad race when he gets to the track and went well for a long way in last year’s Gold Cup.
SELECTION: IL EST FRANCAIS.
KEY FORM:
Irish Gold Cup Chase, Leopardstown, 1 Feb 25 (Fact To File).
King George VI Chase, Kempton, 25 Dec 24 (Il Est Francais, Envoi Allen).
Ryanair Chase, Cheltenham, 14 Mar 24 (Protektorat, Envoi Allen).
Cheltenham 2.40 result
1 Doddiethegreat (B S Hughes) 25-1
2 Jeriko Du Reponet (N de Boinville) 11-2 Fav
3 Catch Him Derry (Harry Skelton) 14-1
4 Feet Of A Dancer (S F O’Keeffe) 15-2
24 ran
“We all liked Doddie,” says Nicky Henderson. “It didn’t look like he would get back to a racecourse but he has.”
Updated
Doddiethegreat wins it, and remember the horse was named after the great Doddie Weir. Another special moment. Brian Hughes, the three-time champion jockey, rarely gets to ride at the Festival. “I’ve had a lot of stick,” he says. “I was lucky enough to meet Doddie Weir, a really special man.”
Updated
Doddiethegreat wins the Pertemps final
As the race comes apart, Doddiethegreat leads them out, from Jeriko Du Reponet, a one-two for the Henderson team. Bryan Hughes rode the winner.
Updated
2.40 pm Pertemps Final
Feet of a Dancer is struggling to find a way through with two to jump. Will The Wise making ground? American Sniper still leads two out. Can he hold on?
2.40 pm Pertemps Final
American Sniper resumes his solitude out front. Four to jump. Not much is happening in the main field as they take that long, sweeping move to the hill and down.
2.40 pm Pertemps Final
With eight still to jump, American Sniper zips away by many lengths as he takes them past the Best Mate stand after having lead cut to two lengths. Many of the fancied horses in midfield.
2.40 pm Pertemps Final
More chaos at the start…but away they go. American Sniper, bottom weight, goes to the fore. DoddieTheGreat is at the front of the pack, Patter Merchant makes an early mistake.
2.40 PERTEMPS NETWORK FINAL HANDICAP HURDLE, 2M 7F 213YD
Sponsors come and sponsors go elsewhere on the festival programme, but the Pertemps Final – first run in 2002 – keeps marching on towards a quarter-century and more. It is a fascinating contest, with runners obliged to qualify via one of more than a dozen races in Britain, Ireland and France, which also means that punters should have plenty of form in similar races to work with when it comes to today’s Final. But it remains a daunting challenge, with no end of possibilities and plotlines for backers to consider including the near-certainty that at least one of the JP McManus-owned runners – Jeriko Du Reponet and Win Some Lose Some – has been steering towards today’s race for months. Dan Skelton, probably the smartest trainer in the British ranks these days when it comes to readying one for a festival handicap, also has a live contender in Catch Him Derry, while Tom Cooper’s D Art D Art, who has not raced since his qualifier in December, has emerged as favourite since I put him up at a few points bigger yesterday. Since my tips here often seem to go the other way in the market, I can only think that the fact that Tom Segal and Paul Kealy, perhaps the two most high-profile tipsters in the Racing Post, have also tipped him up is the main reason for the money.
SELECTION: D ART D ART.
2.40 pm market movers via Oddspedia
Feet of a Dancer (9/1 into 6/1)
Patter Merchant (20/1 into 14/1
2.40 Pertemps Network Final odds
Odds via Oddschecker
D Art D Art 6/1
Feet Of A Dancer 8/1
Jeriko Du Reponet 8/1
Win Some Lose Some 9/1
Will The Wise11/1
Catch Him Derry 14/1
Karl Des Tourelles 14/1
Patter Merchant 14/1
Henri The Second 20/1
One Big Bang 22/1
BAR 22/1 – 24 Runners
Key Race Trends
Only 2 of the past 12 favourites have won this race.
Only 3 of the previous 12 winners have won their race before winning this one.
8 of the last 12 winners have won carrying 11st4lbs or less.
Two huge outsiders there in second and third. Fav backers are still struggling.
Cheltenham 2.00 result
1 Caldwell Potter (H Cobden) 7-1
2 Anyway (D J O’Keeffe) 125-1
3 O’Moore Park (S F O’Keeffe) 66-1
4 Nurburgring (J J Slevin) 9-1
19 ran
Also: 4-1 Fav Firefox
Non Runner: 19
Updated
Sad news: Springwell Bay sadly lost his life in that race. More news to follow…
“It’s irrelevant what they cost, but we got him right,” says Nicholls. The late John Hales bought this horse to replace the lost Hermes Allen. Someone’s just given Fergie a congratulatory slap across the chops. The old boy looks happy enough.
It won in the John Hales colour, and as a grey. An emotional win. “He’s been a difficult horse to train,” says Harry Cobden. “Paul and Clifford (head lad) have done a great job with him.”
That’s Paul Nicholls’ 50th festival win. “When you don’t have the horses, it’s a difficult job…he’s cheap now, isn’t he?”
Updated
Caldwell Potter wins the Jack Richards’ Handicap Chase!
Moon D’Orange is one of the first to struggle. Caldwell Potter is challenged but with two to jump he goes on and on, and off a kick. Can they catch him? Over the last he goes. And he’s got this licked. Sir Alex Ferguson has a diamond of a horse. Paul Nicholls is back! What a training performance. Great ride from Harry Cobden.
Updated
2.00 Jack Richards’ Handicap Chase
No mistakes, good jumping all round as they reach eight to go. Caldwell Potter is seeing a good stride. Firefox sat waiting. Nurgburgring is sat patiently Caldwell Potter still leads at five to jump.
2.00 Jack Richards’ Handicap Chase
Caldwell Potter is keen, maybe he is a machine. Moon D’Orange in midfield. They are being quite well strung out. Caldwell Potter leads them past the stands with 10 to jump.
2.00 Jack Richards’ Handicap Chase
There’s yet another false start – to boos. Not enough of them were straight. A standing start, and a couple are caught flat-footed. Caldwell Potter is the early leader, Firefox to the inside.
Caldwell Potter is Sir Alex Ferguson’s co-owned horse, for whom a lot of money was paid. “I think he’s got a lovely chance,” says Paul Nicholls, who could do with this bolting in. The days of Noland, let alone Denman and Kauto, seem long ago. These days, the best horses seem sent the Mullins camp. They go to the track.
Updated
Henry de Bromhead paid tribute to Rachael Blackmore when speaking to the BBC: “She’s class, she’s just class. She’s so good around here as we’ve seen for years. We’re delighted to have her. You can’t get to where she has got to and doubt yourself.”
Injuries have hampered Blackmore’s season, but now she’s back doing what she does as well as anyone.
2.00 Jack Richards’ Handicap Chase odds market mover via Oddspedia:
Firefox (6/1 into 4/1)
Pic Roc (12/1 into 9/1)
Rachael Blackmore spoke to ITV Racing: ““It’s a magical place to be. She was brilliant and did really well and came through lovely. I want to dedicate this win to my cousin Robert who died at the weekend. His funeral was today. We have had a quieter two days. I felt like I had been spoiled the last few years but Henry [De Bromhead, Air Of Entitlement’s trainer] does such an incredible job and I am very lucky to be on some of their backs.”
2.00 Jack Richards’ Handicap Chase odds
Firefox 9/2
Asian Master 7/1
Caldwell Potter 7/1
Springwell Bay 7/1
Nurburgring 8/1
Pic Roc 10/1
Lord Of Thunder 12/1
Answer To Kayf 12/1
Moon D’Orange 12/1
What’s Up Darling 25/1
BAR 33/1 – 19 Runners
Key Race Trends
11 of 12 winners have been aged 6 or 7.
10 of the last 12 winners have come from the top three in the betting.
12 out of 12 winners have had one previous run at Cheltenham.
Updated
Cheltenham 1.20 result
1. Air Of Entitlement (Rachael Blackmore) 16-1
2. Sixandahalf (K M Donoghue) 85-40 Fav
3. Diva Luna (Ben Jones) 12-1
23 ran
That’s the old firm of Rachael Blackmore and Henry de Bromhead. Her 17th win at the festival, and collared the favourite. Keith Donoghue denied.
Updated
Air of Entitlement wins the 1.20 Mares Novice Hurdle
1.20 Mares Novice Hurdle
Karoline Banbou to the fore, as Sixandahalf takes to the fight. Has Diva Luna escaped? Sixandahalf is giving chase, as they go over the last. Sixandahalf goes clear but…Air of Entitlement, chins her at the line. Another fav done.
Updated
1.20 Mares Novice Hurdle
Maughreen is tailing off but continues. Galileo Dame hits one as they went past the main stands. Brenda’sasking leads them with six and then five to go. Diva Luna and Bluey well placed with three to jump, seven furlongs to run.
1.20 Mares Novice Hurdle
And away they go…of course they don’t. The start has been a problem all meeting. The horses asked to turn and face….and now they go. Maughreen gets caught looking in the wrong direction.
Updated
There’s sun over the parade ring as the mares take to the course. It looks chilly as Sixandahalf heads out to the course. This race has become a real betting proposition. Novice hurdling has sent a few to the poor house over the years. Sixandhalf goes to 5/2 fav.
Lots of bets going in on familiar names Maughreen and Aurora Vega: memories of Faugheen and Quevega, both legendary Willie Mullins horses. Maughreen is the niece of Champion Hurdle winner Faugheen, and Aurora Vega is daughter to the six-times Mares Hurdle winner. Everyone was on Quevega. She’d get a roar home bigger than a Gold Cup winner. Maughreen’s brother is the rather less poetically named Blow Your Wad.
On a related topic.
1.20 Market movers via Oddspedia:
Sixandahalf (10/3 into 11/4)
Jubilee Alpha (9/1 into 15/2)
Bluey (25/1 into 16/1)
Thursday, St Patrick’s Thursday race schedule
1.20 Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle 2m 1f
2.00 Jack Richards Novices’ Chase 2m 4f
2.40 Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle 3m
3.20 Ryanair Chase 2m 4f
4.00 Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle 3m
4.40 TrustATrader Plate Handicap Chase 2m 4f
5.20 Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Handicap Chase 3m 2f
1.20 - Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle odds
Sixandahalf 5/2
Galileo Dame 4/1
Aurora Vega 8/1
Jubilee Alpha 8/1
Karoline Banbou 10/1
Maughreen 11/1
Diva Luna 14/1
Bluey 18/1
Air Of Entitlement 22/1
Just A Rose 22/1
BAR 40/1 – 24 Runners
Key Race Trends
All nine winners of this race have been aged 5 or 6.
No favourite has won in the previous six renewals
Having attended on Tuesday as a losing punter, it’s an expensive day – and night. But that said, I saw some of the best racing you will ever see. It’s still the best. And this was supposed to be a year short on quality. If anything, a slightly lesser crowd can make life easier. Gold Cup last year was bedlam I would be unwilling to repeat. Too few people watching the racing. Rather large queues for the cubicles in the gents, and some sincere overkill of laddy bantz. Wednesday has been my usual day over the many years but Tuesday is where the quality lies. The Champion Chase, other than being a drain for fav backers, isn’t quite the division it was. Now, how will the Stayers’ hold up? The Ryanair Chase is criticised for diluting the Gold Cup but it’s provided some fine, quality races over the years.
The BBC reports on those falling attendances.
The smallest Cheltenham Festival crowd since 1993 was recorded on Wednesday, with 41,949 spectators at the track.
It was a drop of nearly 5,000 from last year and mirrored a fall in Tuesday’s crowd which was down to 55,498 from 60,181.
Attendance for the Queen Mother Champion Chase day on Wednesday was nearly 65,000 in 2022. This year’s figure was the lowest since 40,662 on the second day of the fixture 32 years ago.
Updated
Reports from the course suggest a hailstorm. Cheltenham has several seasons in one day in that huge bowl of a course. The snow didn’t have too much effect yesterday. Perhaps the biggest point of discussion is attendances. Thursday is often the quietest day.
Cheltenham Day 2 Attendance:
2025 - 41,949
2024 - 46,771
2023 - 50,387
2022 - 64,431
Updated
2.40 PERTEMPS NETWORK FINAL HANDICAP HURDLE, 2M 7F 213YD
Sponsors come and sponsors go elsewhere on the festival programme, but the Pertemps Final – first run in 2002 – keeps marching on towards a quarter-century and more. It is a fascinating contest, with runners obliged to qualify via one of more than a dozen races in Britain, Ireland and France, which also means that punters should have plenty of form in similar races to work with when it comes to today’s Final. But it remains a daunting challenge, with no end of possibilities and plotlines for backers to consider including the near-certainty that at least one of the JP McManus-owned runners – Jeriko Du Reponet and Win Some Lose Some – has been steering towards today’s race for months. Dan Skelton, probably the smartest trainer in the British ranks these days when it comes to readying one for a festival handicap, also has a live contender in Catch Him Derry, while Tom Cooper’s D Art D Art, who has not raced since his qualifier in December, has emerged as favourite since I put him up at a few points bigger yesterday. Since my tips here often seem to go the other way in the market, I can only think that the fact that Tom Segal and Paul Kealy, perhaps the two most high-profile tipsters in the Racing Post, have also tipped him up is the main reason for the money.
SELECTION: D ART D ART.
2.00 JACK RICHARDS NOVICE LIMITED HANDICAP CHASE, 2M 4F 127YD
A race that reverts back to handicap status after 10 years as a level-weights contest, including most recently as a Grade One. The switch has definitely had the desired effect on the field size, as 20 are due to go to post after meagre turnouts of eight, four, seven and 11 in the last four years as a Grade One, but the flip-side for punters is that while four of the last five winners were at single-figure odds, there is much more chance of an upset today. Gordon Elliott’s Firefox, who has raced in Grade One company in two of his last three starts, has emerged from the pack as the likely favourite, but he is giving weight to every runner bar Springwell Bay, a winner over course and distance at the New Year’s Day meeting. Caldwell Potter is another interesting runner, not least as a result of his price tag - £632,000 – when he was bought by a syndicate including Sir Alex Ferguson and the late John Hales at a major dispersal sale in Ireland in February 2024. He has been the beaten favourite on his last two starts but makes his handicap debut on what could yet prove to be a decent mark. Elsewhere in the field, Ireland is well represented and Terence O’Brien’s Answer To Kayf is one that caught my eye. He was a very impressive winner of his handicap debut at Naas in January, and while that race was on heavy ground, he has enough form on a sounder surface to suggest that today’s going will not be an issue.
SELECTION: ANSWER TO KAYF.
1.20 MARES’ NOVICE HURDLE, GRADE TWO, 2M 179YD
A record field of 24 has been declared for one of the festival’s most recent additions, which has been on the schedule only since 2016 and also earned a big dollop of second-hand kudos when Golden Ace, who beat Brighterdaysahead by just under two lengths in 2024, joined the Champion Hurdle’s roll of honour here on Tuesday. It would be expecting a lot to think that another future champion might be lurking somewhere in today’s monster field, but there is definitely the daughter of a champion as Aurora Vega is the second foal of the great Quevega, who racked up an extraordinary six straight wins in the Mares’ Hurdle from 2009 to 2014. Her first foal – and Aurora Vega’s full brother – was Facile Vega, who took the Bumper here in 2022 and finished second in the Supreme Novice Hurdle a year later, so she has quite the family tradition to live up to. As yet, though, her form has not quite reached the same level, and Galileo Dame, the runner-up in the Grade One Spring Juvenile Hurdle, looks a stronger contender for major honours today, along with Gavin Cromwell’s Sixandahalf, who was useful on the flat and made a striking hurdling debut at Fairyhouse in January, winning by 11 lengths.
SELECTION: SIXANDAHALF
Wednesday at the 2025 festival will be remembered as a tribute to the late Michael O’Sullivan.
Official release from the Jockey Club.
Thursday 13th March
The going for day three of The Cheltenham Festival 2025 today, St Patrick’s Thursday, is:
Good to Soft
Action moves to the New Course today, which will also be in use tomorrow (Gold Cup Day). The first two days of The Festival, Champion Day and Style Wednesday, took place on the Old Course.
Jon Pullin, Clerk of the Course at Cheltenham Racecourse, said this morning: “We have had two great days of racing so far this week and we are looking forward to another great day today.
“Today’s racing starts at 1.20pm and there are seven races, with the first six live on ITV.
“The feature today is the Ryanair Chase which looks a really competitive race with runners from the UK, France and Ireland.
“Temperatures got down to just below -2C for a brief period overnight but it has warmed up now and should be around 8C for the rest of the day.
“The going for today is Good to Soft.”
Non-Runners
4.00pm Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle
8 Langer Dan (IRE) (Vet’s Certificate, Respiratory Infection)
10 Monmiral (FR) (Self Certificate, Cast in Box)
4.40pm Trustatrader Plate Handicap Chase
-
19 Lord of Thunder (IRE) (Double Declaration
5.20pm Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Handicap Chase (Sponsored by Thames Materials)
15 Where It All Began (IRE) (Going)
Updated
Greg Wood’s selections for Thursday, with full previews of each race to follow.
While the Gold Cup on Friday revolves around the odds-on Galopin Des Champs and his bid for a third consecutive success, the Ryanair Chase over two and a half miles on Thursday is much more open, with live contenders from Britain, Ireland and France, and the prospect of seeing the bold front‑runner Il Est Francais tackling Cheltenham for the first time, with top-class opponents including Fact To File and Protektorat in hot pursuit, is one to savour.
Il Est Francais (3.20) was a clear leader for much of the way in the King George VI Chase at Kempton at Christmas before Banbridge reeled him in on the run to the last, and his devastating front-running success in the Kauto Star Novices Chase at the same meeting in 2023 was one of the best performances by a novice in recent years.
The fact that his best form outside France has come at a flat track is a slight concern, but the drop back on Thursday to an intermediate trip on decent ground should suit and Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm’s seven-year-old has a big chance to become only the second French‑trained winner at the festival meeting since 2005.
Further news, via PA Media: Gordon Elliott has issued a positive update on Galvin, who was taken away in a horse ambulance for assessment after being pulled up in the Cross Country Chase. Elliott said on ITV’s Opening Show: “Galvin had a haematomma on his knee but he was x-rayed and everything was good. He’s on his way home now.”
Weather report: sunny spells expected between 12pm and 5pm today’s conditions should be ideal.
Going news: good to soft ground, no longer soft in places. A dry night in Cheltenham, in one sense at least.
Some news ahead of the third day. Langer Dan is out of the feature race, the Stayers’ Hurdle. Dan Skelton took to X to announce the sad news the Cheltenham specialist will be out.
Unfortunately it’s not great news for Langer Dan this morning,” said Skelton on X. “He had a slightly dirty nose and we’ve had the vet have a look at him. We did a tracheal wash and there’s a bit of mucus and it was too much.
I’ve made him a non-runner which is very disappointing. He’s been a horse who has turned up there every year since he was a four-year-old. I’m absolutely gutted for Colm [Donlon] who owns him.
We always trust him to come alive at this time of year. He will, however, go to Aintree with a bit of luck. It shouldn’t take long to clear up, it’s just bad timing. These things happen and I’m sure he’ll be cheered on in the Aintree Hurdle, one of the great races of the meeting.
Preamble
Good morning from Cheltenham on day three of the 2025 festival meeting – effectively the day that was added to the schedule 20 years ago to expand it from three to four. It still feels a little uncertain of itself, with two Grade Ones in the middle of the card rather than a standout feature, but one or other of the Ryanair Chase or the Stayers’ Hurdle generally throws up a decent yarn, and sometimes – as was the case on a memorable afternoon in 2019 – it is both.
This year, perhaps – it is always risky to be too dogmatic at Cheltenham – it will be the Ryanair, which is a vanishingly rare meeting of top-class chasers trained in the three major jumping nations. The Irish team is led by Fact To File, who was quoted at fairly short odds for the Gold Cup after winning the three-mile novice here last year but is leaving that to his stable companion, Galopin Des Champs. The British challenge is headed by Protektorat, last year’s winner, while France fields the hugely exciting Il Est Francais.
He is, admittedly, trained in France by an Englishman and a Swede (Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm) but having had just a single winner at this meeting since 2005, the French will celebrate long and hard all the same if the front-running Il Est Francais can stamp his authority on Cheltenham at the first attempt. He announced himself as a major talent with a devastating display in the Grade One novice at Kempton’s Boxing Day meeting in 2023, and put up a similarly spectacular display for much of the way in the King George VI Chase at Christmas. Something similar over this very different course this afternoon will be quite the sight to see.
It is a bright, clear morning in the west country, with a chill in the air but no sign of any of yesterday’s snow as the action switches to the New Course for the final two days of the meeting.
The going is good-to-soft (from good-to-soft, soft in places), while the news from the weighing room is that Jack Kennedy, Gordon Elliott’s number one, will have to pass the doctor to ride today after slightly aggravating the leg injury that ruled him out of much of the earlier part of the season. Since Sam Ewing, who had been filling very successfully for Kennedy earlier in the year, is also ruled out today, it could be a real headache for Elliott.
My picks for the afternoon – full disclosure: currently showing a slight loss of £2.18 to level stakes – are here, and you can get the latest news on Kennedy, his potential replacements and much, much more here on the blog as the day unfolds.
