Tips and best bets for the 2026 Cheltenham Festival Champions and Stayers Hurdle

Cheltenham Festival 2026 Tips

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With the 2026 Cheltenham Festival just around the corner, now seems like a good time to take a look at the early market conditions betting site Because the big hurdle race is brewing.

Unibet Champions Hurdle Challenge Trophy

Shock in this game has not been common since Beech Road was priced at 50/1 in 1989, but golden ace Last year, Espoir D’Allen was 25/1 to win this race, and in 2019, Espoir D’Allen was 16/1, so we’d be foolish to rule it out right away.

Layers still refuse to take this champion seriously, as evidenced by her current best odds of 16/1. Horse Racing Betting Sitesand a 22/1 win in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle in November.

You can’t really do much more than jump around and perform at your best, or close to your best, as she did in these two races and as she did behind State Man at Punchestown last May, and given what she’s achieved you have to consider her a one-way race at 16/1. Even if she ran well but placed (and she’s only finished outside the top three twice in her career), you’ll kick yourself afterwards for giving up some profit.

She is available in six lengths Sir Gino His best hurdle time in their Christmas Hurdle was more than half a stone better than hers and he has a youthful side to him.

Kempton’s success gave Nicky Henderson’s Chargers a 6-6 victory over the smaller hurdles, and we understand that Henderson should have gone over the fence ahead of his stablemate constitution hill‘s star begins to dim.

The latter is obviously a huge price to pay based on his best form, but it remains to be seen whether we’ll see that happen again, or if he’ll emerge and try to regain the crown he won in 2023.

After his early defeat at Newcastle, new lion It looked like he might be favored for the blue ribbon campaign, but he also collapsed at the end of the business. I’m much less worried about him than I am about Constitution Hill, though only time will tell.

His trainer Dan Skelton says all they can do is jump through a lot of hurdles with him between then and March, and I don’t think Kayf Tara’s gelding son will be short of practice or preparation.

That accident aside, last year’s winner of the Turner Novices’ Hurdle had a lot going for him, except that at his best he was some 7lb lower than Sir Gino. One thing the Skeleton Prisoner won’t lack is the stamina to get him up the mountain, but the favorite’s pedigree shows he won’t stop either, and his pace is indeed faster than that of a new lion.

Don’t get me wrong, the new lion can travel, but you’d think his best chance of success would be to try and drive Sir Gino’s sting from the front, because if this is a slow race, it’s going to fall into the hands of the Henderson horse.

After the Secretary of State was out, Lossiemouth There will be plenty of Irish support and the odds-on runner is Willie Mullins at 6/1. She had plenty of space and steady company when winning the December Hurdle at Leopardstown recently Anzadanwho shot 25/1 at the festival, nearly seven shots behind fourth place.

It’s hard to see the latter, who still has a tendency to play in choke situations, reversing those rankings unless “WPM” finds a way for him to settle in better between now and March. The strong pace at Cheltenham suits him well and I do think he’s here to stay, so he might be one of those considering a one-way fight for a spot and maybe get past the beaten horses if he doesn’t do too much too fast. The alternative is to let him dictate the pace, and if he can do that, we’ll all know what he’s made of.

Returning to Lossiemouth he won the Triumph Hurdle and the Mares Hurdle twice in three appearances at the Cheltenham Festival. She has been in peak form this season, winning the Group 1 Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown and the aforementioned December Hurdle.

It obviously wouldn’t be a huge surprise if she goes home at the front on the day, but to me she’s vulnerable to the new Lions and Sir Gino, and if both bring their best…if all three bring their best, then we could be witnessing an absolutely fierce battle on the hill.

I do think Sir Gino has all the aces and looks like the most likely winner, but he’s short enough that it won’t cost us much if we wait until that day and back him to win. For me, the current bet from a profit potential perspective is Lossiemouth at 6/1 each way Horse Racing Betting App.

I think she has a good chance of finishing in the top three, her form on the course and her overall fitness this season suggest she’s going to be at her best on the day and then it’s down to whether other aspects can perform better. Make it a “no runner, no bet” investment in case plans change.

Cheltenham Festival 2026 Early Tips 1: Lossiemouth (Champion Hurdle, Tuesday 10th March) – 2pt ew @ 6/1 (William Hill)

Obstacles for Rice Paddy Power Keepers

Compared to some of the festival fixtures, it hasn’t been kind to supporters of favorites from the past decade, with only Thistlecrack (2016), Paisley Park (2019) and 2024 champions teacup Earn it from the market leader. Instead, six double-digit price runners entered the mix, with Lisnagar Oscar (2020) topping the list at odds of 50/1.

The Gordon Elliott-trained Teahupoo was upset by Bob Olinger last year and is also a favorite to beat when third to 33/1 winner Sire Du Berlais in 2023. His record at the track is 1-4 and although he has only failed once, his absolute best form came at home in Ireland in the 2022 Champion Hurdle.

There are currently discounts on certain products on 7/4 Betting AppsI’m excited to watch and if he wins so be it, but I don’t think there’s much value at this price. On the contrary, I like the commitment shown impose oneselfOfficially, it weighs only 3 pounds less than the Teahupoo, but it currently costs more than three times as much.

When I say committed, this is a progressive hurdler. His coach Nicky Henderson described him as slow, but the great man tended to play things down. He also said he didn’t think he would become a graded horse after watching Impose Toi win the Pertemps qualifier at Aintree in November.

It just goes to show that even someone as experienced as Seven Barrow Masters can make mistakes, as his eight-year-old has since won the Grade 2 Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury and the Grade 1 Long Distance Hurdle at Ascot last month. On both occasions he beat a very good standard strong leaderhe looks likely to object again in March.

Henderson said Impose Toi has done very little domestically, and it’s entirely possible there’s a lot more going on under the hood than we’ve seen so far. He’s won on the track and had a stunning performance in last year’s Coral Cup, beating everyone but Jimmy Duseuil, and he looks worthy of being priced one way at 7/1.

He will have one more run before the festival and if he continues to improve the price will be shortened.

Cheltenham Festival 2026 Before and After Tip 2: Impose Toi (Stayers’ Hurdle, Thursday 12 March) – 1pt ew @ 7/1 (Bet 365)

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Novice supreme level

Will we be roaring before and after the festival opener? cairo Currently leading the market and looking like an impressive winner in a big field hurdle race at the Christmas meeting at Leopardstown.

He easily passed the leader and reached the end, jumping well enough, but tripped and crashed while exiting the plane. You’d be hard-pressed to say he wouldn’t win that well, and his Cheltenham odds The current price of 9/2 is probably a fair reflection for the Gordon Elliott-trained runner, who cost him £410,000 in the autumn.

This performance was all about commitment, but the board form for the two-mile novice group was old park star. Nicky Henderson had a lot of success in this game and he knew a good game when he saw it.

The old Park Star failed to win a major but performed well in three starts with Paul Nicholls before changing hands in the autumn. He performed well enough to win on his stables/hurdling debut at Kempton in November and then, albeit on a free ride, went a little further than a trip to the Supreme at the new Cheltenham course in December (the Supreme race was, of course, run at the old course).

This is impressive and the performance is impressive Speak freelyIn the Grade 1 Future Champion Novices’ Hurdle at Leopardstown he performed well as he charged towards last before clearing the hurdles and falling on landing to hand the eventual winner the win skylight bustle.

The latter has to come into the calculation and it would be no surprise if he becomes the first horse to win the Christmas race and the Supreme since Appreciate It in 2020, although at this stage I would rather have the Joseph O’Brien runner withdraw from that race. The fact that Sam Ewing was able to maneuver him the way he liked showed that he had a lot of horses underneath him that would serve him well as they started to climb up Prest Butty Park Hill.

British possibilities my dad dad (Dan Skelton) and idaho sun (Harry Fry) Both are in excellent form, with the latter recently beating the former in the Grade 1 Formby Novice Hurdle at Aintree. Both are respected, and if a genius still emerges between now and March, it might come in the form of: crazy for you. He is currently the cheapest Supreme hope in Willie Mullins at odds of 16/1.

He only ran the hurdles once while training in France but has not seen the track since his debut in May 2024. It would be something very special if his trainer could win this race with him after such an absence and you’d expect to see him run at least once if he takes himself seriously. Currently, he has no qualifications other than the Rookie Championship.

From a betting perspective, everything else we’ve seen will require significant improvement to win, and as we know, this isn’t a game full of shocks. Only one of the last ten winners has achieved double-digit SP (Rabaike in 2017 at odds of 25/1), although only three favorites have won in the same period.

For me, the two current bets are Old Park Star and Talk The Talk, as the odds of both being involved look high and they both offer a bit of a rope. Again, it would be better if you could get a “non-runner no bet” on them, but I think both runners are likely to cut time before the big day and the prices are looking positive right now.

– Talk The Talk (Super Novice Hurdle, Tuesday 10th March) – 1pt ew @ 8/1 (Ladbrokes)

– Old Park Star (Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Tuesday 10 March) – 1pt ew @ 6/1 (Unibet)

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