Last Updated on 29/01/2026 by Andy Clark
With the festive period now firmly in the past, most horse racing enthusiasts’ attentions turn to March and the Cheltenham Festival, and from this point all roads will lead to Prestbury Park and four top days of jumps racing action.
Ante-post betting remains fierce in the run-up to the Festival, and many questions are still to be answered, race targets still to be finalised and for many, the quest to find some ante-post value ahead of the start of the greatest show on turf.
There are still a few races to come in the racing calendar which could yet alter the betting landscape for the Cheltenham Festival, and with that in mind, it seems as good a time as any to highlight a few potential top horses whose price might well shorten further between now and tapes up in March.
SUPREME NOVICES’ HURDLE – TUESDAY 10 MARCH – MYDADDYPADDY (12/1)
Old Park Star jumped to the head of the market for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle – the Cheltenham Festival opener – with a bloodless victory in the Rossington Main at Haydock; while El Cairos has the race at his mercy when stumbling on landing over the final flight at Leopardstown, where he would have been a facile winner but for unseating Jack Kennedy.
However, MYDADDYPADDY from the Skelton camp could be one to keep faith in despite the Walk In The Park gelding losing his unbeaten record at Aintree on Boxing Day.
A facile winner of both prior starts, Dan Skelton’s up-and-coming hurdler had excuses for that defeat. Subject to rumours of a health scare in the days leading to the race, he travelled best for most of the contest at Aintree and loomed up menacingly onto the leader, but he was unable to go past.
That race was pretty much a bumper, however, with half of the hurdles taken out of play due to low sun, turning the race into a test of speed rather than a test of jumping. Given that the winner had also only tasted defeat once previously – in the Champion Bumper – the form of that defeat might not be getting the credit it might deserve.
Trainer Dan Skelton has hinted his charge will go straight to Cheltenham, so we’re unlikely to be seeing him again before March. However, he isn’t one to give up on just yet and assuming his homework gets a glowing report then his price come flagfall on Cheltenham Tuesday may well be much shorter than it is now.
CHAMPION HURDLE – TUESDAY 10 MARCH – LOSSIEMOUTH (3/1)
A winner of 12 of her 15 hurdles starts, which includes three Cheltenham Festival successes, Willie Mullins’ mare could well see her Champion Hurdle odds tumble when she takes in the upcoming Irish Champion Hurdle.
The Great Pretender mare is already 2-2 for the season, most recently beating Brighterdaysahead in the Grade One December Hurdle at Leopardstown and she’ll head there again in February before Cheltenham the following month.
She’s proven categorically that despite winning over further, she is fully effective over two miles and with the Champion Hurdle rarely run at a crawl, her proven stamina can prove an asset, along with her affinity for the track that has already seen her clock up a trio of Festival victories. And, in receipt of a weight allowance from the likes of The New Lion, she could go close.
A win at Leopardstown in early February could see her current price contract, and it wouldn’t be a huge shock if she were to emerge as the standout favourite after Sir Gino’s injury.
STAYERS’ HURDLE – THURSDAY 12 MARCH – IMPOSE TOI (14/1)
Teahupoo is likely to prove a warm order to regain the crown he won in 2024, but Nicky Henderson looks to have a live challenger to the Irish star with his JP McManus-owned It’s Gino gelding, who has improved markedly this season for the step up to three miles.
Henderson hasn’t won the Stayers’ since 2000 when Bacchanal did the business under Mick Fitzgerald, but this improving eight-year old could well end that barren run and may yet have more to offer over this trip.
He has won here before but not at the Festival although he does have Festival form to his name, finishing runner-up in the Coral Cup last campaign and he is 3-3 already this season with his latest victory coming in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot – a race that has seen the likes of Paisley Park, Thistlecrack, Baracouda and Big Bucks’s all win enroute to Festival glory.
He was poor in the Cleeve Hurdle on trials day which has seen his price go from 11/2 to 14/1, but we won’t be writing him off just yet.
CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP – FRIDAY 13 MARCH – GALOPIN DES CHAMPS (6/1)
Twice a winner of this race already, taking the Blue Riband in both 2023 and 2024, he was thwarted twelve months ago on ground that was possibly quicker than ideal, which was reflected in his jumping not being quite as fluent as usual.
The Timos gelding atoned at Punchestown the following month, and his current price may have been a reaction to his being turned over on his reappearance in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown over Christmas.
That defeat shouldn’t be taken too seriously, though, as he invariably needs his first run; indeed, he has been beaten on each of his last three seasonal debuts before winning next time out. He’s scheduled to take in the Irish Gold Cup on Sunday – a race he’s won for each of the past three years – before heading to Cheltenham, and if he were to notch up a fourth victory in the Leopardstown showpiece, then it is likely he’ll shorten in price for the Cheltenham Day 4 feature race.
Whether he’s quite good enough at ten years old to regain the Cheltenham Gold Cup is debatable, given no ten-year old has won the Gold Cup since Cool Dawn back in 1998 so history is very much against him. But it would be folly to write him off just yet, especially if he turns in an emphatic victory at Leopardstown.
Brian joined the team a couple of years ago but he has a long background in writing horse racing content and betting tips. Having worked for a number of publications in the past, such as RacingTips, Brian made the move to thatsagoal and is the main content writer across flat and National Hunt racing.
