CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL DAY 2 TIPS 2025

Willie Mullins is the leading trainer in this race with seven wins and he has another strong candidate in Final Demand, who took over favouritism after his impressive Grade 1 victory at the Dublin Racing Festival. His Racing Post Rating jumped 20lb to a division-leading 154 with that 12-length success, giving Mullins an excellent chance of a fourth Turners in a row. Britain has a serious challenger in the Dan Skelton-trained The New Lion, also an impressive Grade 1 winner in the Challow at Newbury. The Mullins squad also looks set to include Kawaboomga, who is talented but lacks Graded experience, while another to note from the home team is Nigel Twiston-Davies’s course-and-distance winner Potters Charm. Some of the others with good Graded form, such as Gordon Elliott’s The Yellow Clay, may go elsewhere.

Three of last year’s festival winners are in the reckoning for this Grade 1 staying novice chase, which in terms of competitiveness may be the race that benefits most from the removal of the 2m4f Grade 1. Ante-post favourite Ballyburn is one of those who may have gone for the old Turners, given that he won the Grade 1 novice hurdle over the intermediate distance last year, but he will have to move up in trip now. The Willie Mullins-trained seven-year-old has strong form credentials after his Grade 1 win over 2m5½f at the Dublin Racing Festival, even if questions remain about his jumping. The other festival winners from last year are Better Days Ahead (Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle) and Stellar Story (Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle), who are both trained by Gordon Elliott and are closely matched on their February meeting in a Grade 2 at Navan, which Better Days Ahead won by a neck. Dancing City and Lecky Watson, third and fifth behind Stellar Story in the Albert Bartlett, are also in the mix for Mullins, while Elliott’s challenge could be bolstered by Croke Park, runner-up to Ballyburn at the DRF. Nicky Henderson has the chief home hopes in Jango Baie and Jingko Blue.

This highly competitive handicap hurdle was introduced in 1993 and regularly attracts a maximum field (currently set at 26). Last year's winner, Langer Dan, became the first dual winner of the race when scoring at 13-2 for Dan Skelton. He was 9-1 the previous year, but even with his back-to-back successes there have been just five winners at single-figure odds since 2004. Form: Eleven of the last 15 winners had won or finished second last time out. Weight and ratings: Langer Dan carried 11st 8lb to victory last year off a mark of 141 (in 2023 he won off the same mark carrying 11st 4lb). He made it six winners in the past decade rated in the narrow 138-143 band. Age: This race tends to suit younger, less exposed types, and the number of hurdles runs is a key factor. Only four of the last 17 winners were into double figures. Trainers: Nicky Henderson is the most successful trainer with four wins.

This unusual event, introduced when the festival expanded to four days in 2005, began as a handicap but was changed to a conditions race in 2016. Now it reverts back to a handicap, although with a 19lb weight range in an effort to attract highquality chasers. Last year’s race was abandoned after heavy rain made parts of the cross-country course unraceable. Ireland v Britain: Ireland has won 16 of the 19 runnings. Enda Bolger dominated in the early years when it was a handicap but he was joined on five winners by Gordon Elliott, who took charge after the change to a conditions race. Philip Hobbs is the only trainer to have won for Britain, with Balthazar King in 2012 and 2014 (both when it was a handicap), and Easysland scored for France in 2020.

Jonbon was one of the Nicky Henderson stars forced to miss last year’s festival owing to concerns over the health of the Seven Barrows string but he is set to line up with a big chance this time. He has won five out of five since that disappointment, advancing his career-best Racing Post Rating three times during that impressive run. This season he has scored by wide margins in the Tingle Creek at Sandown and the Clarence House at Ascot, latterly defeating dual Champion Chase winner Energumene to take his RPR to 177. The big question is whether he can reproduce his best at Cheltenham, where he has won on only two of his five visits (in contrast to his 100 per cent record elsewhere). Willie Mullins has three of the main threats in Gaelic Warrior, Energumene and El Fabiolo but there are question marks with them as well, concerning form, age and jumping. King George VI Chase runner-up Il Est Francais would be an intriguing contender if dropped back to this trip by Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm, while Dublin Chase one-two Solness (Joseph O’Brien) and Marine Nationale (Barry Connell) add further Grade 1 quality to the mix.

This hotly contested 2m handicap chase had a significant change four years ago by moving from the New course to the Old. The Old course is slightly sharper and tighter, favouring a quicker, strong-travelling type. Last year's winner: Unexpected Party scored at 12-1 for Dan Skelton. He was described in the Racing Post comments as “prominent on outer”, following on from other recent “prominent” winners Sky Pirate (2021) and Global Citizen (2022) and 2023 scorer Maskada, who was “in touch with leaders”. Form and ratings: Nine of the last 15 British-trained winners had been successful at Cheltenham before. Unexpected Party wasn’t one of them but had recorded his best two Racing Post Ratings at the course. The quality has improved year on year and ten of the last 14 winners were rated at least 140. Age: This has been a good race for novices with 15 winners since 1983. Only three winners have been older than nine since 12-year-old Uncle Ernie in 1997.

Entries are made late for this Grade 1, giving as much time as possible for likely contenders to gain vital racecourse experience. Often only one run is deemed necessary, as was the case with last year’s one-two Jasmin De Vaux and Romeo Coolio, who came out to win in January and then were put away until the festival. Those two, along with the rest of last year’s first seven, were trained by Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott, who between them have won seven of the last eight runnings. It is not surprising, therefore, that the ante-post betting is dominated again by possibles from Ireland’s two biggest stables. Dublin Racing Festival bumper winner Bambino Fever looks set to head the Mullins team along with Copacabana, a later arrival to the racecourse, while Elliott has dual winner Kalypso’chance on his long list. Britain has realistic hopes of success this year, principally with David Pipe’s impressive Ascot winner Windbeneathmywings. Further down the betting on the Irish side is Henry de Bromhead’s Scope To Improve – probably an apt description of the whole field.