Cheltenham 2026: the Festival’s defining contenders

By Tuesday morning, the annual migration to Prestbury Park will once again be complete. The Cheltenham Festival remains jump racing’s most intense examination: four days, 28 races and the meeting that crowns champions while exposing weaknesses with brutal clarity. This year’s edition - beginning Tuesday - arrives with familiar narratives and a few unexpected twists, notably the shifting Champion Hurdle picture and a Gold Cup market unusually open by recent standards.

As ever, the betting markets have told their own story in the weeks leading up to the meeting, with several dramatic shifts driven by injuries, re-routed targets and the usual flurry of stable whispers.

Champion Hurdle - a reshaped championship

Ordinarily the Champion Hurdle market would revolve around the established star power of Constitution Hill or the defending champion State Man. But with both absent from the line-up, the race has taken on a very different complexion.
That absence has propelled the brilliant grey mare Lossiemouth to the forefront of the market. Trained by Willie Mullins and typically ridden by Paul Townend, she has shortened sharply in the betting in recent weeks, with significant money arriving once her connections signalled that the Champion Hurdle - rather than the Mares’ Hurdle - was the likely target.

The most compelling British challenge appears to come from The New Lion, an unbeaten hurdler whose rapid ascent has placed him prominently at the head of the ante-post lists. Meanwhile Brighterdaysahead, trained by Gordon Elliott, adds depth to a race that has gone from potential procession to open championship.
The reshaped field illustrates one of Cheltenham’s enduring truths: the market favourite often changes dramatically once final targets are confirmed.

Gold Cup - a more open staying crown

Friday’s centrepiece, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, looks unusually competitive at the top of the betting.

The market has been headed in many lists by Jango Baie, with rivals including The Jukebox Man and the high-class Mullins runner Gaelic Warrior close behind.
Lurking slightly further down the market is the two-time Gold Cup hero Galopin Des Champs, whose presence ensures the race retains a proven champion capable of reasserting dominance if returning to his best.

Much will depend on pace and stamina - as ever on Cheltenham’s demanding New Course - but the balance of opinion among punters is clear: this is no one-horse race.

Champion Chase - speed and a rising star

If the Champion Hurdle has lost some of its established names, the Queen Mother Champion Chase looks set to revolve around a single rising star.

Majborough has emerged as a strong favourite for the two-mile championship, admired for his high cruising speed and fluent jumping. Former champion jockey Tony McCoy has even remarked he would be tempted “to come out of retirement” to ride him - a remark that encapsulates the regard in which the horse is held.
Among the likely dangers is Marine Nationale, who bids to repeat last season’s dominant performance in the race.

Ryanair Chase - a short-priced banker

Perhaps the most clear-cut favourite across the week appears in Thursday’s Ryanair Chase.

The Mullins-trained Fact To File has been widely tipped as one of the Festival’s bankers, trading at very short odds after connections confirmed the intermediate-distance target rather than an ambitious tilt at the Gold Cup.

With multiple Grade 1 victories already to his name, the view among many analysts is that the race may revolve around whether anything can apply sustained pressure to him from the front.

Novice races – where the market has moved most

As usual, the most volatile betting has come in the novice events, particularly Tuesday’s curtain-raiser, the Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

The long-time favourite Old Park Star has been challenged after a late decision by Mullins to divert Mighty Park into the race, triggering a flurry of market activity.
In the novice chasing division, the Arkle Challenge Trophy has seen strong support for Kopek Des Bordes, whose odds have shortened significantly amid confidence from leading observers.

The dominant forces behind the contenders

Behind the horses, the familiar powerhouses remain in command.

The Mullins operation again arrives with the deepest team and is odds-on to be leading trainer at the meeting - a reflection of his extraordinary Cheltenham record.

Among jockeys, Townend is favourite to claim the leading rider title, with strong competition expected from Mark Walsh and Jack Kennedy, both likely to partner several prominent contenders.

A Festival defined by shifting markets

The narrative of Cheltenham rarely settles until the tapes rise. This year’s meeting has already been shaped by withdrawals, redirected targets and heavy betting moves - from Lossiemouth’s surge into Champion Hurdle favouritism to the novice races reshuffled by late entries.

Yet the essential appeal remains unchanged. Cheltenham compresses a season’s worth of rivalry into four relentless days, where reputations are either cemented or quietly dismantled up the famous hill.

By Friday afternoon, the markets will once again look obvious in retrospect. But on the eve of the Festival, certainty is the one commodity still in short supply.