CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL DAY 4 TIPS 2025

If the home team have struggled to make a telling impact on the first three days, the juvenile hurdling championship contest promises a strong start to the final card. Britain has the top two in the ante-post betting, and they present quite a contrast. Lulamba is favourite for Nicky Henderson (who has won the Triumph a record seven times) and has come from traditional jumping roots in France with a big reputation. The hype was justified to some extent by his hurdles debut win at Ascot but arguably he has still to prove he has as much substance as style. That is not the case for Flat recruit East India Dock, who has a much superior Racing Post Rating from his course-and-distance victory on Trials day. His trainer James Owen is at the opposite end of the experience scale to Henderson, having yet to taste festival success. Ireland’s best chance appears to be the Gavin Cromwelltrained Hello Neighbour, winner of the often significant Grade 1 juvenile hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival.

This ultra-competitive 2m1f handicap hurdle can have up to 26 runners and being in the right ratings bracket has become a virtual prerequisite. Last year's winner: Absurde scored at 12-1 for Willie Mullins, who has now won seven of the 15 runnings since his first success in 2010. FORM The William Hill Hurdle (formerly Betfair) at Newbury and the Liffey Handicap Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival have been key pointers – ten of the last 24 winners had run in one of those. Ratings: All bar four winners since 2006 were rated in the 130s with five of the last ten having run off 137-139. Age: Only five horses older than six have won in the last 21 runnings. Second-season hurdlers have won 16 of the last 24 runnings. Trainers: Ireland has accounted for 12 of the last 17 winners, with nine of them trained by a Mullins. Dan Skelton (four wins) has become the British trainer to watch.

Willie Mullins won the first two runnings but has had to settle for second in the next two, first with Allegorie De Vassy and then with Dinoblue. That pair remain the top two hopes for Closutton and are set to line up again after their tight battle in the Opera Hat Mares Chase at Naas in February. Dinoblue just edged that 2m contest by a neck but this step up to 2m4½f will be more in favour of Allegorie De Vassy, although she was beaten by her stablemate when fourth in this race last year. Gavin Cromwell could send Limerick Lace for a repeat bid after last year’s threequarters-of-a-length success, but on this season’s form he may have better chances with up-and-coming novices Bioluminescence and Only By Night (below). Bioluminescence has been disputing ante-post favouritism with Dinoblue. It is worth noting that the four winners have been prominent in the betting (no bigger than 3-1) but the favourites (all saddled by Mullins) have been beaten.

The hardest of the Grade 1s to solve for punters, with ten of the last 11 winners priced in double figures and four of them coming in at 33-1 or 50-1. The possibly poisoned chalice of favouritism has been held recently by Gordon Elliott’s The Yellow Clay, who has clear form claims after numbering a Grade 1 success in his 4-4 record over hurdles. Others in the reckoning include The Big Westerner (Henry de Bromhead), France’s Jet Blue (David Cottin) and Jasmin De Vaux (Willie Mullins), last year’s Champion Bumper winner. A couple of British contenders who might catch the eye further down the list are Wendigo (Jamie Snowden) and Derryhassen Paddy (Lucinda Russell). Mullins’ Final Demand would be top-rated if he came here but the Turners looks his likely destination.

Galopin Des Champs landed his third consecutive Irish Gold Cup in February and has an outstanding chance of doing the same at Cheltenham to become the first to complete a Gold Cup hat-trick since Best Mate in 2004. The last before that was the mighty Arkle in the 1960s, showing what a rare and coveted feat Galopin Des Champs stands on the verge of completing. Willie Mullins’ superstar chaser has recorded a Racing Post Rating in the 180s for the third consecutive season, which again puts him head and shoulders above the opposition. The King George VI Chase, a championship contest in its own right, is always a place to look for a serious challenger (Bravemansgame, that season’s winner, was runner-up in Galopin Des Champs’ first Gold Cup) and Banbridge is firmly in the picture after his Kempton triumph. Joseph O’Brien’s highly versatile nine-yearold took his RPR to a career-best 174 there and would be a threat if he gets decent ground. There are plenty of high-class chasers around, mostly among the second-season group (Fact To File, Corbetts Cross, Monty’s Star), but none is yet to touch the exceptional quality of Galopin Des Champs.

Sine Nomine’s 8-1 success for Fiona Needham last year made it six British winners in the last eight years and the nine year-old mare looks set to return, albeit after an unseating and a fall this season on her steps out of hunter chase company. Nine horses since 1956 have won the race twice – three of them (Salsify, On The Fringe and Pacha Du Polder) in recent years. Sine Nomine became the first winner in ten years not aged in double figures. Before the recent trend towards success for those aged ten or 11, 14 of the previous 19 winners had been nine or younger.

Iroko was a first festival winner for joint-trainers Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero at 6-1, leading home a JP McManus one-two ahead of the Nicky Henderson-trained 14-1 shot No Ordinary Joe. Runners rated between 133 and 139 have won nine of the 15 runnings but four of the last six winners were rated 142-145. Five- and six-year-olds have won 13 of the 15 runnings. Ten of the last 13 runnings were won by Willie Mullins, Paul Nicholls, Gordon Elliott or Joseph O’Brien. Ten of the 15 winners have been sent off at double-figure odds and Sir Des Champs in 2011 is the only successful favourite. Sa Majeste is a Willie Mullins-trained possible for last year’s winning owner. Gigginstown’s likely types include Mullins’ Quai De Bourbon and the Gordon Elliott-trained pair Cleatus Poolaw and Stellar Story.