After what feels like a very long winter for many of us, the Cheltenham Festival is finally here! And, with the festival now upon us, it’s time to take a quick look at the current odds to get an idea for how they’ve changed over the past few weeks and (perhaps more importantly) what the bookies are currently thinking in terms of favourites. So, without further ado, let’s delve into the exhilarating world of horse racing for what might just be the final pre-event bet insights we can make.
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Who are the Current Favourites for the Cheltenham Festival?
The Cheltenham Festival is one of the horse racing calendar’s biggest events, and as a result, thousands – if not millions – of horse racing fans will be either visiting the event or watching the races go down. And there’s a lot to be excited for, especially for Irish punters; after all, Irish horses in particular are often highly renowned for their performances at the Cheltenham Festival, and Willie Mullins is perhaps the most acclaimed trainer of the bunch. So, how’s it looking for Irish-trained horses in this year’s event?
The Big Races: The Champion Hurdle and the Gold Cup
Perhaps the two most highly anticipated races of the Cheltenham Festival have to be the Champion Hurdle and the Gold Cup, which currently have seven and ten runners respectively (with several having pulled out of the Gold Cup already at the time of writing). As such, they’re not the biggest races, but the action is undoubtedly going to be hot all the same.
Despite the relatively small pool of runners in each event, it’s safe to say that the bookies still have very clear favourites. For the Champion Hurdle, it currently looks set to be a race primarily between Constitution Hill and Brighterdaysahead, which have odds of 8/13 and 7/4 with BoyleSports and 4/6 and 7/4 with Bet365 and BetVictor, respectively. Brighterdaysahead is an Irish contender, trained by Gordon Elliot, whereas Constitution Hill is trained by renowned British trainer Nicky Henderson, so it’ll be very interesting to see how the two perform.
Meanwhile, for the Gold Cup, the bookies are even more confident in Galopin’ des Champs to be the strict winner, with odds of 4/9 at Bet365 and BoyleSports and ½ with BetVictor. Despite being a French-bred horse, Galopin’ des Champs was Irish-trained, so he will no doubt pique the interest of many Irish racing fans. And, given he won in both 2023 and 2024, he’s definitely got the reputation to pull it off again. This isn’t significantly far from the odds offered at the end of February of around 1/2, so it seems that the bookies are still pretty confident in their pick.
Final Thoughts
Now that Cheltenham is upon us, fans from all around the world are getting ready for this massive and exciting event. And so, it will definitely be interesting to watch over the next few hours to see if, and how, the odds change. Will Galopin’ des Champs be able to bring home a third Irish win? Will Irish-trained Brighterdaysahead outpace British Constitution Hill? Only time will tell.