Cheltenham Festival

Following recent changes to the Cheltenham Festival race programme, notably the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase, the Coral Cup is now the first of three handicaps run on ‘Style Wednesday’. Run over two miles and five furlongs on the Old Course, the race currently has a safety limit of 26 and is invariably hotly contested. Indeed, Langer Dan, who won back-to-back renewals in 2023 and 2024, was sent off at a single-figure price on both occasions, as were Dame De Compagnie in 2020 and Aux Ptit Soins in 2015, but the other six winners in the last decade started at 50/1, 33/1, 28/1, 20/1, 16/1 and 12/1.

The Coral Cup was established in 1993 and, in three-and-a-bit decades, Upper Lambourn trainer Nicky Henderson has saddled four winners – Spirit River (2010), Whisper (2014), William Henry (2019) and Dame De Compagnie (2020) – making him the most successful handler in the history of the race. The retired pair Barry Geraghty and Davy Russell both rode three winners apiece and remain, jointly, the most successful jockeys.

The Coral Cup presents a thorny puzzle for punters to solve, as evidenced by the fact that just two favourites, Xenophon (2003) and the aforementioned Dame De Compagnie, have won since the turn of the century. Previous form, preferably winning form, at Cheltenham and/or over distances beyond two miles and a furlong is clearly a positive, but it is worth noting that a recent win is not a prerequisite for victory in the Coral Cup.

Day Two of the Cheltenham Festival, dubbed ‘Style Wednesday’ by the Jockey Club, starts with the Grade 1 Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle (aka Turners Novices’ Hurdle) , run over two miles and five furlongs on the Old Course at Prestbury Park and open to novice hurdlers aged four years and upwards. Inaugurated, as the Aldsworth Hurdle, in 1971, the race commemorates William Baring Bingham who, as the owner of Prestbury Park, facilitated a precursor to the Cheltenham Festival in 1902. That said, the race has been run under various sponsored titles down the years, most recently the Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle.

Willie Mullins, the most successful trainer in Cheltenham Festival history, has saddled seven winners, namely Fiveforthree (2008), Mikael d’Haguenet (2009), Faugheen (2014), Yorkhill (2016), Sir Gerhard (2022), Impaire Et Passe (2023) and Ballyburn (2024) and just one of the last 10, Willoughby Court, locally trained by Ben Pauling, was trained outside Ireland. Five of the last 10 winners started favourite and all bar Bob Olinger, in 2021, were sent off at odds-on.

It is also worth noting that the Challow Novices’ Hurdle, run over an extended two and a half miles at Newbury in late December, has proved a poor trial for the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle. The Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle could hardly be described as a trial for the Champion Hurdle, but a trio of notable winners, Istabraq (1997), Hardy Eustace (2003) and Faugheen (2014), went on to win the two-mile hurdling championship half a dozen times between them.

Sponsored, since 2021, by investment firm Brown Advisory and racing group Merriebelle Stable and hence run, for sponsorship purposes, as the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase, the Broadway Novices’ Chase is currently scheduled as the second race on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival. A Grade 1 contest run over an extended three miles on the Old Course, the Broadway Novices’ Chase boasts an impressive roll of honour, featuring the likes of Mandarin, Arkle, Looks Like Trouble, Denman, Bobs Worth and Lord Windermere, all of whom went on to win the ‘Blue Riband’ event, the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Indeed, the late Pat Taaffe, best remember for his association with Arkle, remains the leading jockey in the history of the Broadway Novices’ Chase, having won on Coneyburrow (1953), Solfen (1960), Grallagh Cnoc (1961), Arkle (1963) and Proud Tarquin (1970). Likewise, compatriot Willie Mullins is the leading trainer with six winnes, namely Florida Pearl (1998), Rule Supreme (2004), Cooldine (2009), Don Poli (2015), Monkfish (2021) and Fact To File (2024).

As the name suggests, the Broadway Novices’ Chase is open to novice steeplechasers aged five years and upwards. However, it is worth noting that nine of the last ten winners were aged seven or eight years and six of the ten were sent off favourite. Blaklion (2016) and The Real Whacker (2023) both started at 8/1, making them, jointly, the longest-priced winners in the last decade. Previous course and/or distance form, preferably over fences, is desirable in a likely winner, as is winning form in a Graded race of some description.

Run over an extended two miles on the Old Course at Prestbury Park, the Champion Bumper is currently scheduled as the final race on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival. Although known by a colloquial and, historically, slightly disparaging, title, the race is officially a Standard Open National Hunt (NH) Flat Race and, as such, is the only one in which runners are not required to negotiate obstacles of any kind. It is, nonetheless, a Grade 1 contest, open to horses aged between four and six years, with a weight-for-age allowance for four-year-olds and a weight-for-sex allowance for fillies and mares.

Established, as the Festival Bumper, in 1992, the race has been sponsored by Weatherbys – which provides racing services to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) – since 1997 and, consequently, run as the ‘Weatherbys Champion Bumper’ ever since. Invariably a valuable source of future winners, at the Cheltenham Festival and elsewhere, the Champion Bumper occasionally throws up an outstanding performer over hurdles and fences. Notable examples include Florida Pearl (1997), Cue Card (2010), Champagne Fever (2012) and Envoi Allen (2023).

The trainer of Florida Pearl and Champagne Fever, Willie Mullins, is the leading trainer in the history of the race with 13 wins, while his son Patrick, with four wins, is the leading jockey. In terms of ten-year trends, three favourites have won in the past decade and no winner in that period has been officially rated less than 120 by the BHA; the highest-rated was, in fact, Facile Vega (138) in 2022.

Known for sponsorship purposes as the Close Brothers’ Mares’ Hurdle, the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle is run over two and a half miles on the Old Course at Cheltenham, where it is, nowadays, scheduled as the four race on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival. As the name suggests, the race is restricted to mares only, aged four years and upwards, and commemorates the late David ‘The Duke’ Nicholson, who died in 2006, but was champion trainer in 1993/94 and 1994/95 and saddled 17 winners at the Cheltenham Festival, including 1988 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Charter Party.

The race is a fairly recent addition to the Cheltenham Festival programme, having been inaugurated, as a Grade 2 contest run on the New Course on Gold Cup Day, in 2008, before being rescheduled the following year. Indeed, the switch to the Old Course corresponded with the start of the winning streak of Quevega, trained by Willie Mullins, who went on to win again in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, thereby beating the previous record of five consecutive wins in the same race, set by Golden Miller in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1936.

The David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle was promoted to Grade 1 status in 2015 and Mullins has since recorded four more winners, namely Glens Melody (2015), Vroum Vroum Mag (2016), Benie Des Dieux (2018) and Lossiemouth (2024), making him far and away the most successful trainer. In 2015, a last flight fall by the odds-on favourite, Annie Power, also trained by Mullins, reportedly saved bookmakers £50 million.