Day Four Guide to the Cheltenham Festival
National Hunt racing’s showcase Gold Cup tops the bill on day four of Cheltenham 2025. Will Galopin Des Champs join the greats?
Galopin Des Champs in the Gold Cup winner’s enclosure 12 months ago. © Getty Images
Key Facts:
- A huge crowd is expected to make the pilgrimage to the Cheltenham Festival for Gold Cup Day.
- Galopin Des Champs will attempt to emulate the all-time greats as a three-time Gold Cup champion.
- Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle will be the Festival’s usual difficult ‘get-out’ race.
The final day of the Cheltenham Festival will attract the biggest crowd of the week. If Galopin Des Champs lands his third Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup, the day will also produce the biggest cheer of the entire 2025 Festival.
The Willie Mullins-trained French-bred Galopin Des Champs will attempt to emulate Cottage Rake, Arkle and Best Mate as a three-time Gold Cup champion at 4.00 pm. Beforehand, there were four enthralling races, starting with the Triumph Hurdle.
The Festival closes with the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle. It is a contest Galopin Des Champs won in 2021. Punters on a retrieval mission or seeking to press up profits on the Festival’s final curtain call should be mindful that, since this race’s 2009 inception, there has been just one winning favourite.
Below, our statistic-laden guide to the day’s racing may help punters pinpoint a winner or two during this most special of national hunt race days.
1.20 pm – The JCB Triumph Hurdle
This four-year-old championship contest will not have a full field of 24 runners. But, undoubtedly, there will be a select field of top-drawer novices with future stars in the line-up. And stop the press; there is a strong likelihood this race will fall to a British stable!
Willie Mullins may have trained four of the last five Triumph Hurdle winners, but it is James Owens’ East India Dock and Nicky Henderson’s Lulamba that the bookies favour. The shortest-priced of the Irish runners is Gavin Cromwell’s Hello Neighbour.
This contest has become a good race for favourites. Despite only six of the last 22 favourites having won, five of those winners scored during the past decade. The glaring stat is that seven of the previous 10 winners were French-bred.
As Lulamba was born in France and his trainer, Nicky Henderson, is the race’s most successful trainer – in addition to an all-time great – he looks like the obvious choice. East India Dock’s negatives include him being a flat-bred former flat racer. Horses of this type have a poor record in this one.
2.00 pm – The William Hill County Handicap Hurdle Race
Throwing darts at the list of runners might be the best way to find the winner of this ultra-competitive tough handicap. Willie Mullins and Dan Skelton may have won nine of the last ten renewals of this two-miler, but these trainers have invariably been represented by multiple runners.
The prices of recent winners underline the difficulty of finding the winner of this contest. They have had SPs of: 12/1, 33/1, 11/4, 33/1, 11/2, 12/1, 33/1 and 20/1. The only stat that stands out is the winner’s age. While 5, 6 and 8-year-olds have been regular scorers, the last winning seven-year-old was in 2003!
In 2025, Dan Skelton had just one runner in the field when 38 runners were still declared. At the same time, Willie Mullins had 11. The Irishman has the top three in the betting, albeit online gambling sites are betting 4/1 the field.
2.40 pm – The Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Steeple Chase
Run for the first time in 2021 and replacing the Centenary Novices’ Handicap Chase on the Cheltenham Festival programme, this two-and-a-half miler has so far only been won by Irish-trained runners.
Three of the four winners have started as favourites, and the biggest-priced winner was last year’s scorer, Limerick Lace, at odds of 3/1. She is back to defend her title in 2025, as is Dinoblue, the runner-up 12 months ago.
Punters believe the tables will be turned 12 months later, and Ireland’s Dinoblue will go to the tapes as a short-priced favourite. British hopes are thin on the ground, albeit Telepathique, with four wins and a second from five starts and skyrocketing ratings, could give the home side plenty of cheer.
3.20 pm – The Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle Race
There is no age restriction (apart from five-plus); only ‘novice’ status is needed to earn a place in this stayer’s hurdle. This should be a straightforward race to decipher on paper, but as 10 of the last 11 winners were sent off at double-figure odds, it is clearly not.
“Lay the favourite” is a simple message. The current top three in the betting are Final Demand, The Big Westerner, and The Yellow Clay. All three have won their last three starts, but as only five of the previous 12 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle winners scored on their final start, they could be worth opposing.
4.00 pm – The Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup Steeple Chase
The most prestigious jumps race of the year and always the highlight of the week at the Festival, the Gold Cup should go to either Galopin Des Champs, Banbridge or Inothewayurthinkin. This trio are priced 9/1 or shorter, and 22 of the last 24 winners started 9/1 or shorter.
Only three of this year’s field won last time out – Galopin Des Champs, Banbridge and Jungle Boogie – and 11 of the past 13 winners won on their previous start. Galopin Des Champs is odds-on to give Willie Mullins his fifth Gold Cup success in five years and put his name in the record books as a rare three-time winner.
4.40 pm – The St. James’ Place Festival Hunters Chase
Run over the same course and distance as the Cheltenham Gold Cup, this contest is regularly called the “amateur Gold Cup”. There are no glaring stats. Two recent winners started on 66/1 odds. Two others were 13/8 favourites!
Notably, female riders have enjoyed great success in recent years, with Nina Carberry (twice), Bryony Frost, Harriet Tucker and Maxine O’Sullivan all winning this contest since 2015. This is the best and only form pointer from a statistical standpoint.
5.20 pm – Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle
There has been just one winning favourite in the 16-year history of this 20-furlong 10-flight race for up-and-coming riders. The concluding race on the Festival card seemingly suits progressive horses, as 10 of the last 12 winners were aged five or six.
Other stats to concentrate on include avoiding runners carrying less than 11-stone-1-pound (there has never been a winner carrying less) and looking for horses with course-winning form or last-time-out winners. Both metrics have been running at a 50 percent win ratio during the past dozen years.
How Can I Watch the Final Day of Cheltenham 2025?
The final day of Cheltenham’s 2025 Festival will be broadcast on ITV Racing. The first five races of the day can also be watched on the ITVX streaming service. Subscription channel Racing TV will broadcast all seven of the day’s races live.
The best sports betting sites will also stream the action for customers who place a qualifying bet. New customer sign-up offers, free bet concessions and additional place positions for each-way place bettors will be commonplace during this final day of festivities.
