Cheltenham Festival

Known, for sponsorship purposes, as the Mrs. Paddy Power Mares’ Chase, the Liberthine Mares’ Chase is the most recent of recent additions to the Cheltenham Festival, having been run for the first time in 2021. In fact, at that stage, it replaced the Centenary Novices’ Handicap Chase, which had been run on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival since 2005, but was subsequently transferred to Imperial Cup Day at Sandown a few days earlier.

The Liberthine Mares’ Chase is a Grade 2 event run over two miles and four and a half furlongs, and 17 fences, on the New Course at Cheltenham. As the name suggests, the race is restricted to mares, aged five years and upwards, with an official rating of 120 or more, and is currently scheduled as the third race on Gold Cup Day.

After just four renewals so far, meaningful trends are yet to be established, but it interesting to note that all four winners were trained in Ireland – two of them, Colreevy (2021) and Elimay (2022), by Willie Mullins – and none of them were sent off favourite. That said, Limerick Lace (2024), who was sent off 3/1 third favourite, has been the longest-priced winner in the brief history of the Liberthine Mares’ Chase. So far, the race has attracted single-figure fields on three occasions and, even before the final confirmation stage, the 2025 renewal has attracted five fewer entries than the maximum of 24. Granted that the Liberthine Mares’ Chase offers prize money down to eighth place, it is a little disappointing that race is not better subscribed.

The verbosely-titled St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase is run over an extended three and a quarter miles on the New Course at Cheltenham or, in other words, over the same course and distance as the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which it immediately follows. Established in 1904, but sponsored by wealth management company St. James’s Place since 2016, the race is open to horses aged five years and upwards, which are qualified to run in hunters’ steeplechases and satisfy other entry criteria with regard to their performance in those and/or point-to-point races.

Aside from 2021, when the Cheltenham Festival was staged behind closed doors and amateur jockeys were unable to compete because of public health restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic, the St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup is confined to nonprofessional riders.

Rather fittingly, the late Richard Barber still shares the distinction of being leading trainer with Paul Nicholls, for whom he ran a satellite yard at Seaborough in Dorset. Barber saddled Rushing Wild (1992), Fantus (1995, 1997) and Earthmover (1998) and Nicholls later followed suit with Earthmover (2004), Sleeping Night (2005) and Pacha du Polder (2017, 2018). Former top amateur Colman Sweeney, who rode Sleeping Night and Salsify (2012, 2013), remains the leading jockey.

The St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup has produced three winning favourites since 2015, but winners at 66/1 (twice), 25/1 and 16/1 (twice) in the same period suggest that the race is not always plain sailing for punters.

Historically the ‘getting out stakes’ at the Cheltenham Festival, the County Hurdle is currently scheduled as the second race on Gold Cup Day but, with a safety limit of 26, remains as competitive as ever. Run over two miles and a furlong on the New Course and open to horses aged five years and upwards, the race has produced just two winning favourites since 2015, one of which was subsequent Champion Hurdle winner State Man. At the other end of the betting spectrum, winners at 33/1 (three times), 25/1 and 20/1 in the past decade are indicative of the problem the County Hurdle presents punters.

Competitive though it may be, Willie Mullins has saddled seven winners of the County Hurdle, namely Thousand Stars (2010), Final Approach (2011), Wicklow Brave (2015), Arctic Fire (2017), Saint Roi (2020), State Man (2022) and Absurde (2024), making him the leading trainer since World War II. His stable jockey, Paul Townend, rode four of those winners and is, jointly, the leading jockey.

The 158-rated Arctic Fire (11st 12lb) was something of an outlier, insofar as all the other winners since 2015 were officially rated between 134 and 146 and eight of them carried 11st 1lb or less. Likewise Arctic Fire, Ch’tibello (2019) and Favoir (2023) were all eight-year-olds, but the other seven winners in that period were aged five or six. Interestingly, Warwickshire trainer Dan Skelton all saddled four winners of the County Hurdle, only one of which was in the first three in the betting, all in the last 10 years.

The closing race on St. Patrick’s Thursday at the Cheltenham Festival, Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup is a handicap steeplechase run over three and a quarter miles on the New Course and open to horses aged five years and upwards, officially rated 0-145, to be ridden by amateur jockeys. The race was established in 1946, in memory of Ian Kay ‘Kim’ Muir, himself a former amateur jockey, who was killed in action with the Royal Hussars during World War II, aged 23. In 1991, the name of Fulke Walwyn, the celebrated trainer who died in February that year, was added to the race title.

Indeed, Fred Rimmell, who was a contemporary of Fulke Walwyn, remains the leading trainer in the history of the race, having saddled Mighty Fine (1951), Gay Monarch II (1955), Nicolaus Silver (1961) and Double Negative (1977). Much more recently, one of the finest amateur jockeys of his generation, Jamie Codd, has also ridden four winners, namely Character Building (2009), Junior (2011), The Package (2015) and Cause of Causes (2016), and is the leading jockey.

Fancied horses have typically fared well in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup in recent years, with two winning favourites and five more winners at single-figure prices in the last decade. That said, Domesday Book (2017) and Chambard (2022) were both sent off at 40/1, so the odd ‘shock’ result is by no means out of the question. Indeed, Chambard was the only winner in the last 10 years to carry less than 11st 0lb to victory.

As the name suggests, the Pertemps Network Final marks the culmination of a series of 14 qualifying races run over distances between 21 and 25 furlongs at various venues throughout Britain from late October onwards, from which any horse that finishes in the first four is eligible for the final. Formerly the Coral Golden Hurdle, the race was inaugurated in 1974, but has been sponsored by the Pertemps recruitment agency since 2002.

The Pertemps Network Final is run over three miles on the New Course and is currently scheduled as the third race on the third day of the Cheltenham Festival, a.k.a. St. Patrick’s Thursday. A typical Festival handicap – indeed, nowadays, a ‘Premier Handicap’, according to the British Horseracing Authority – the race has a safety limit of 24 and, from a punting perspective, is no easier to solve than any of the others.

The remarkable Willie Wumpkins, ridden by leading amateur Jim Wilson, scored an unprecedented hat-trick in 1979, 1980, and 1981, making Wilson, jointly, the most successful jockey in the history of the race alongside Davy Russell and Barry Geraghty. Local trainer Jonjo O’Neill, with four wins so far, is the leading handler.

Granted the competitive nature of the race, it should come as no great surprise that Sire Du Berlais (2019) was the only winning favourite in the past decade. That said, the Pertemps Network Final has not been a race for massive outsiders in recent years, with Monmiral (2024) and Third Wind (2022), who were both sent off at 25/1, the longest-priced winners since 2015.