Day One Guide to the Cheltenham Festival
Bookmakers or Punters? Who will come out of the Cheltenham Festival’s first day in front?
Majborough – jumping the final flight ahead of 2024’s JCB Triumph Hurdle – is odds-on to win at the Festival for a second time. © Getty Images
Key Facts:
- Supreme Novices’ Hurdle named after late jockey Michael O’Sullivan
- Three odds-on shots set to take their chances on Cheltenham Tuesday
- Constitution Hill has a worthy opponent in the Champion Hurdle
- Here is all you need to know about day one at this year’s Cheltenham Festival
Cheltenham Festival 2025 will get underway on Tuesday, March 12th, at 1.20 pm with its traditional curtain-raising race, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. This year’s contest will be run in memory of Michael O’Sullivan – the young jockey who died in February as a result of head injuries suffered in a fall at Thurles.
The day’s action will conclude more than four hours later when the backmarkers cross the line in the seventh race on the card, the National Hunt Challenge Cup Novices’ Handicap Chase. In between are five pulsating races, including the showstopping Champion Hurdle.
Day one of the Festival sets the tone for the week ahead. Punters and gambling sites will either be chasing losses or attempting to press up their profits from Wednesday onwards. Three horses are currently trading odds-on on Cheltenham’s opening day. Should they all win, bookies will be nursing gaping wounds.
Our Helpful Guide to Day 1 of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival
Find below the starting times, odds and favorites to win the different races.
1.20 pm – The Michael O’Sullivan Supreme Novices’ Hurdle
This two-mile contest confined to horses setting out on their jumps racing career has a maximum field size of 22. In recent years, the race has attracted an average of 13 runners.
Nevertheless, it has proved to be a good race for horses situated towards the head of the betting. Last year’s winner was 7/2. Starting prices other recent winners, in date order, have been: 7/2, 9/2, 9/4, 8/11, 6/1, 6/1, 7/1, 25/1, 4/1, 2/1.
Irish-trained horses have won six of the last 10 editions of this contest. Willie Mullins has provided the winner five times since 2013. The top eight in this year’s Supreme betting are trained in Ireland, with the Mullins stable housing five of these.
Kopek Des Bordes (trained by Mullins) is the odds-on favourite for this year’s renewal. Two-from-two over hurdles, with a 13-length Grade-1 success when last seen in action, this French-bred could see the bookmakers on their backfoot from the outset.
2.00 pm – The My Pension Expert Arkle Novices’ Chase
Unquestionably, one of the biggest novice chases of the year, the two-mile Arkle, has been won by many of jump racing’s modern greats: Moscow Flier, Sprinter Sacre, Douvan, Altior and most recently, Shishkin.
This contest was a favourites graveyard, as only one ‘jolly’ prevailed between 1992-2011. However, it has become a favourites playground. Ten of the last 13 ‘Arkles’ have gone to the market principal – seven of these scored at odds-on. It must be noted that many of these contests featured small fields.
Once again, Willie Mullins has an impressive record in this contest – training six winners during the past decade. This year, his chief hope is the 2024 Triumph Hurdle winner, Majborough. Owned by JP McManus, this five-year-old is two-from-two over fences and won the Irish Arke at Leopardstown on his latest start. He is also 8/13 to win on Tuesday.
2.40 pm – The Ultima Handicap Chase
The Ultima Handicap Chase, the first handicap of Festival week, always attracts a large, competitive field. The contest is three miles and a furlong but is considered a strong Grand National trial. Horses to win both races include West Tip, Seagram, Rough Quest and 2023 scorer Corach Rambler.
‘The Ultima’ is a near-impossible jigsaw to unravel – underlined by favourites traditionally scoring on a ratio of one in ten. The glaring stat is the race featuring just two Irish-trained winners since 1967.
3.20 pm – The Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle Race
Only established in 2008, wonder mare Quevega made the race her own by winning it six times in a row (from 2009 to 2014). Favourites are only three-from-10 in the last decade. Ireland has won the contest eight times in the same period.
Once again, Willie Mullins holds the aces. He has the 2024 winner, Lossiemouth, and Jade De Grugy entered in this contest. They are trading at 2/1 and 9/4, respectively, but with Lossiemouth potentially running in the Champion Hurdle, Jade De Grugy could go off as an odds-on shot.
4.00 pm – The Unibet Champion Hurdle
The first of the Festival’s showcase races was boosted when Brighterdaysahead – successful in seven of her eight career starts – was confirmed as a rival to the 2023 Champion Hurdle winner Constitution Hill.
The latter, trained by Nicky Henderson, will start as an odds-on favourite for a ninth time. He is unbeaten in all ten of his previous races and bids to give his trainer his tenth victory in this two-mile championship race.
This has been a good race for favourite backers, with the last five winners starting 2/1 or shorter. The Unibet sponsored Champion Hurdle has also been kind to mares, with four winning the past nine renditions of the contest.
4.40 pm – The Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle Race
Remarkably, Willie Mullins has yet to win this contest. It has been an Irish benevolent race, however – with Irish runners taking the last seven editions of this handicap restricted to four-year-olds.
History suggests French-bred horses will perform well, which is interesting as the 2025 ‘Fred Winter’ favourite, Stencil, is French-bred and French-trained. Available on 6/1 odds, he is only marginally favoured over his rivals.
The ‘Fred Winter’ can be best described as a ‘bookmakers race’. In the past 13 years, almost half of the winners have started at significant double-digit odds – including three 33/1 winners, a 40/1 scorer and an 80/1 skinner.
5.20 pm – The National Hunt Novices’ Chase
Formerly a level-weights race for amateur riders, recent changes mean the National Hunt Challenge Cup is now a Novices’ Handicap Chase and no longer restricted to amateur riders. 2025’s race will be run over three miles and six furlongs and feature 23 obstacles.
A full field of 18 runners looks assured, and bookmakers are currently favouring the Irish-trained Now Is The Hour. Owner JP McManus has a strong hand in the contest and could see his colours carried by three or more runners. Johnnywho and Sa Majeste appear to be his best hopes.
How Can I Watch the Cheltenham Festival?
Coverage of each of the Cheltenham Festival’s four days will be broadcast on ITV. The first five races of each day can also be streamed via ITVX. Subscription channel Racing TV will broadcast all seven daily races live.
The best sports betting sites will also stream the race action for the customers who place a qualifying bet. Promotional new customer sign-up offers and Cheltenham free bet offers will be commonplace during jump racing’s biggest week.
