Road to the Cheltenham Festival 2025 – 3 weeks to go
It’s that time of year again, where we look ahead to the Cheltenham Gold Cup Festival in March and with two months before the feature race, here is our first post of the year!
For those who haven’t followed Severn Sport during the run up to and the Festival itself, our coverage includes posts at 8, 4 2 and 1 week to go markers, as well as a Tipster League during Festival week – where figures from football in Gloucestershire compete to be crowned our King Tipster.
In January, Severn Sport’s Ryan Butler was joined by Tipster League veteran, Damon Highet, and Slimbridge Co-Manager, Tom Deakin, for our first preview post, where the boys looked at their Best and Worst Priced Favourites and Longshots.
At the 3 weeks to go mark, the bookies are now “non-runner no bet” for the most part and horses are being scratched off the entries list. So Butler, Deakin and Highet will be looking at Two Horses & One Race to watch at this stage.
As always, Severn Sport encourages everyone to bet responsibly and the prices below are taken from Oddschecker at the time of writing, so are subject to change.
To kick things off, Tom Deakin gives us his horses and race to watch:
TD: The first horse to watch is Brighterdaysahead. Paz (Tipster League teammate Jake Parrott) says she wins the Champion Hurdle. I say she definitely makes the Champion Hurdle interesting if she runs like she did at Christmas.
But even though the Mares Hurdle could potentially be a penalty kick for her – 2m 4f horses have a great record in the Champion, especially from the front, so she is definitely one to watch.
Best Price – 11/4 Champion Hurdle (betfair), 5/4 Mares Hurdle (betfair)
My second horse to watch is a boring one, but it has to be the big man, Galopin De Champs and the chance to see a 3 time Gold Cup winner.
I wasn’t old enough to appreciate Best Mate, but this horse is a monster. He has the power of Denman and the class of Kauto Star. This could be phenomenal.
Best Price – 8/15 (BetVictor, betfair)
I’m cheating but there are two races to watch at this stage, firstly the Ryanair Chase – particularly if the leading horses in the market all go for it. The first 8 in the current market could all stake a claim to win it, including Fact To File, Gaelic Warrior and last year’s winner, Protektorat.
What is interesting is that since winning his first Ryanair in 2016, he hasn’t had more than two years without winning it and he hasn’t won it in the last two years…
Best Price (selected) – Fact To File 7/4 (betfair, BetVictor), Il Est Francais 4/1 (betway, betfair), Banbridge 5/1 (BetVictor, bet365), Spillanes Tower 6/1 (BetVictor), Gaelic Warrior 6/1 (BetVictor, betfair), Protektorat 7/1 (William Hill), El Fabiolo 10/1 (BetVictor, SkyBet, Paddy Power), Energumene 10/1 (BetVictor, SkyBet, Paddy Power), Jungle Boogie 16/1 (William Hill, BetVictor), Envoi Allen 20/1 (Paddy Power), JPR One 50/1 (William Hill)
The other race to look at is the Turners Novices’ Hurdle as you have two strong leaders in the market, The New Lion vs Final Demand.
It’s the best from both sides of the water head-to-head and it is definitely what you want to see!
Best Price (selected) – Final Demand 7/4 (betway, BetVictor), The New Lion 11/4 (betway, BetVictor, Paddy Power), Kawaboomga 6/1 (bet365), Kopek Des Bordes 7/1 (BetVictor), The Yellow Clay 8/1 (BetVictor, betfair), James Gate 12/1 (William Hill), Potters Charm 14/1 (BetVictor, betfair), Sixmilebridge 16/1 (William Hill, BetVictor), Kaid d’Authie 33/1 (betfair, SkyBet)
Next up is Damon Highet:
My first horse to watch is East India Dock in the Triumph Hurdle. Won a race he should have won at Cheltenham last time out and being a selection I put up in a previous post, I was more than happy to see him get a taste over course and distance for the Triumph.
His Cheltenham form is giving me confidence after tipping him up that he’s there to win!
Best Price – 5/2 (betfair)
My second horse to watch is Jet Blue, who has shortened in price for the Albert Bartlett since being the horse I fancied as an antepost long shot in the last post – so it makes me look like I know what I’m talking about!
So I’ll be keeping a close eye on the market as we creep towards the festival, especially when he holds entries for the Turners aswell.
Best Price – 12/1 (BetVictor, Boyle Sports, bet365), 66/1 Turners Novice‘s Hurdle (BetVictor, betfair)
I never like choosing the favourite, so I will swerve the Gold Cup as the obvious major spectacle at the festival.
I’ll go with a horse that is just so exciting to watch. The Frankel of the hurdling world, Constitution Hill in the Champion Hurdle.
Don’t care about the odds, I wont be betting on the race, I just want to see him go and show them a clean pair of boots as he canters up the hill. That’s my race to watch – especially if he is made to bring his absolute best to Prestbury Park!
Best Price (selected) – Constitution Hill 8/13 (betfair), Brighterdaysahead 11/4 (betfair), Lossiemouth 5/1 (betfair), State Man 6/1 (BetVictor, Paddy Power, BoyleSports), Burdett Road 33/1 (bet365, BoyleSports), Golden Ace 33/1 (bet365), King of Kingsfield 50/1 (William Hill, bet365, BetVictor), Brentford Hope 66/1 (BetVictor, bet365, BoyleSports), Winter Fog 66/1 (BetVictor, William Hill)
Finally, Butler makes his selections:
RB: The first horse to watch is Ballyburn. Like Manchester United at Old Trafford this season, he has lost his fear factor after not only losing over Christmas, but by being run all over Kempton by Sir Gino.
Following that, all of the chat switched to him dominating the Browns Advisory Chase, but with the recent news that Sir Gino is out of Arkle, suddenly that doesn’t seem out of the question – although Majborough looks so strong it might not be worth Willie Mullins taking himself on.
Whichever race Ballyburn ends up in, he will go close and arguably have something to prove on the big stage.
Best Price – 4/1 Arkle Chase (Skybet, betfair, Paddy Power); 7/4 Brown Advisory Chase (Skybet, Betway, Paddy Power, betfair)
My second horse to watch is another Willie Mullins horse who has bags of potential and hype, but also has a couple of question marks after their recent outings in Maughreen.
Won her debut over hurdles at Punchestown last month, but didn’t look as convincing as the social media hype suggested it would be.
She’s still favourite for the Mares Novices Hurdle, but there is a lot of support for second favourite, Sixandahalf in the market, meaning that like me, not everyone was convinced by her jumping on debut.
But we all know that Mullins has that gift for getting his contingent firing in March, so I also wouldn’t be too surprised if she romps home.
Best Price – 3/1 (Paddy Power, BoyleSports, BetVictor)
My race to watch is the Triumph Hurdle on the Friday. Over the course of the last 12 months there have been a number of strong contenders show their potential but then be replaced by the next big thing.
In mid-2024, Willy De Houelle was being touted as being the one to beat and as short as 5/1, but after a couple of horrible runs, is now 33/1 amidst talk that he won’t even appear!
Then, Hello Neighbour has been touted as being the strongest entry, but has since been overtaken by East India Dock and now Lulamba.
I know that Tom and Damon are both in the “not convinced” camp over the favourite, who has only raced in the UK once.
Damon in particular is very much on the side of East India Dock and having won twice at Cheltenham in the last four months, it’s hard not to agree.
Best Price (selected) – Lulamba 7/4 (bet365, betfair, William Hill), East India Dock 5/2 (betfair), Hello Neighbour 6/1 (BetVictor, William Hill), Lady Vega Allen 14/1 (betway, BetVictor, betfair), Palladium 16/1 (betway, bet365, BetVictor), Galileo Dame 20/1 (betfair, bet365, betway, BetVictor), Live Conti 25/1 (BetVictor, betfair), Willy De Houelle 40/1 (BetVictor, betfair)
We will have a preview post every week between now and the Cheltenham Festival week, including the launch of the 2025 Tipster League!
