Fowler on the Festival: Cheltenham 2025 Betting Tips

With less than seven weeks until the Cheltenham Festival gets underway, Odds Now have enlisted the help of national hunt enthusiast Harry Fowler to keep you abreast of all the key developments.

Catch Harry’s column every week between now and March to stay on top of the big stories and market moves from racing’s most anticipated meeting.

I'm excited to utilise this new column on Odds Now to preview what is undoubtedly the most anticipated event of the Jumps season.

This iconic meeting brings together the best horses, trainers, and jockeys national hunt racing has to offer, and I’m hoping this weekly effort will help keep you on top of all the key information and market moves ahead of the famous roar on March 11^th.

The entries for some of the major races have already been released, and you can be certain there are plenty of twists and turns among the market leaders still to come.

In this first edition, I’ll be taking a look back at last weekend’s key action and looking forward to a fascinating Trials Day card which should offer up some big clues to take note of.

Berkshire Million offers more questions than answers

I was in attendance for the Berkshire Million Weekend at Windsor and Ascot, which offered up plenty of thrills and spills.

On Friday, we saw €740,000 purchase Caldwell Potter finish a disappointing second in the Lightning Novices’ Chase, comfortably beaten four lengths by Gidleigh Park, who you’d think would want further than a 2m trip going forward.

If we are to see the much-discussed second at the festival now, it looks like it will be handicap after the last two bitterly disappointing runs.

Whilst it’s easy to highlight Caldwell Potter being underwhelming, the winner was very impressive on what was essentially chase debut after he was pulled up very early due to irregular heartbeat back in November.

That disruption in the season means he will likely miss the festival to gain some more experience and target a race at Aintree instead. He does have an entry in the Arkle but that’s no easy race and may be best swerved.

With our festival hat on, it’s impossible not mention Langer Dan. He continued to show his disliking for the winter cold when finishing last of five, a whopping 25 lengths behind Iberico Lord who came home in fourth.

The whole saga continues to dominate discussion among racing fans and while he has been dropped 2lbs for that effort, to a rating of 158, it all seems irrelevant as the handicapper appears to have no intention of making the same mistake again.

Instead, the Stayers Hurdle looks the aim. Currently priced at 25/1, I’m expecting him to come out in the spring on the big day and run a good race in what is a weak enough division.

Langer Dan should improve at the upcoming Stayers Hurdle. (Photo credit: Alamy Images)

On to Saturday at Ascot, where the feature grade 1 Clarence House effectively boiled down to Jonbon v Energuemene — England vs Ireland. A theme we’ll see plenty of come March!

Jonbon beat Energumene by 6.5 lengths and was subsequently given a career-high RPR of 171 to win his ninth Grade 1 of a superb career. He has won 17 of his 20 races to date, with all three of those defeats coming at Cheltenham.

There are no doubting his fantastic achievements regardless of what the future holds but connections would dearly love to add the icing on the cake with that elusive festival win in March.

Next stop for him is of course the Champion Chase, where he has moved from 9/4 into 5/4 favourite with Energumene drifting all the way out to 10/1.

Willie Mullins also sent over Kargese to make her seasonal reappearance in the Grade 2 Mares’ Hurdle. She was well backed into 2/5 favourite to win but disappointed and was beaten by the Skelton trained Take No Chances.

Kargese has now drifted out to 8/1 in the Mares Hurdle market, whilst the winner is into 14/1 for that same contest. There is no doubt Kargese will come on from that run but getting her to settle early seems the biggest problem.

She doesn’t seem to possess too much of a turn of foot and looks more of a galloper, so I do see her going over further in time. Willie Mullins now has a job on his hands to get her to settle early, as he did with Lossiemouth last year, if she is going to go up in trip for the festival.

She is currently rated 139, so there is a chance she has a go in the County Hurdle off a favourable mark.

The first race at Ascot on Saturday we saw the big talking horse Lulamba. Before Saturday’s race, he was already 4/1 favourite for the Triumph Hurdle without even being seen in this country.

This was set up to be no easy start for him however, taking on Mondo Man having his first run over hurdles. Mondo Man is rated 111 on the flat and was seen in the summer finishing fourth at Royal Ascot in the King Edward VII stakes.

Lulamba was giving 10lbs away to his rival but put in a classy display winning by 3.5 lengths ahead of the second favourite, who ran far too freely to challenge the winner.

As a result, Nicky Henderson’s charge is now 6/4 favourite for the Triumph and, notably, has also been given a Supreme Novices’ Hurdle entry. Mondo Man, meanwhile, remains unchanged at 25/1 for the Triumph and looks like heading to Kempton for the Grade 2 Adonis Juvenile Hurdle ahead of taking his chance at the festival.

Esteemed trainer Nicky Henderson. (Photo credit: Alamy Images)

Finally, Sunday at Windsor brought us the Fleur De Lys Chase, where Protektorat put in a stellar performance to run out a 23-length winner over Djelo in second.

Ahoy Senor once again disappointed when pulled up and it must be said, he never really looked comfortable.

The winner has now stated his claim for the Festival, with that effort earning him an RPR of 172 which is a joint career best and a quote of no bigger than 8/1 to go back to back in the Ryanair.

That race is a market which could dramatically change over the next few weeks with horses double entered, or even in El Fabiolo’s case, yet to make seasonal reappearance.

Trials Day action set to dazzle

This weekend we go to Cheltenham Trials day, the last meeting at the course before the big week and in the last decade alone, this is a meeting which has provided 23 winners for the festival.

The first race of note at 1:15pm is the Triumph Trial. East India Dock has been entered, last seen here winning by 18 lengths back in November and was favourite for the real thing for a good while before Lulumba entered the fray.

Sauvignon is one we are yet to see in this country, having had three runs over in France. There is at least some substance to the French form thanks to a horse called Sony Bill, who is now with Willie Mullins, who has finished third in a grade 2 on stable debut. Sauvignon makes stable debut for Paul Nicholls and will be an interesting runner, currently priced around 33/1 for the big day.

At 2:25pm we have the Cotswold Chase, where L’Homme Presse enters a red-hot favourite. With the recent decision to take him out of the Ryanair entries, you would connections are anticipating a good run here ahead of a tilt at the Gold Cup.

Last seen when a fine third in the King George over Christmas, returning to a left-handed track will only help, and whilst Gentlemensgame offers up solid opposition, I think L’Homme Presse should just win here.

Then at 3pm we have the Unibet Hurdle, better known as the International Hurdle. Sadly, there will be no festive rematch as Lossiemouth was pulled earlier this week, meaning Constitution Hill is roughly 1/10 to extend his unbeaten run.

How much can Nicky Henderson’s stable star improve from that reappearance? He is due to improve after that time off, however, whether he can rediscover his brilliant best is another matter. Unless he’s beaten, we’re unlikely to see much change in his festival price.

Then at 3:35pm we have the Cleeve hurdle, for the horses looking to take on Teahupoo at this year’s Stayers’ Hurdle. Crambo, the winner of the Long Walk hurdle at Ascot on December 21^st is looking to add to that success — currently around 14/1 in the Stayers market.

Strong Leader is also entered for this but will need to be a whole lot better than when finishing last when sent off 11/8 favourite for that Long Walk Hurdle. The market can’t split the pair currently though, so it will be interesting to see how he fares.

Finally, the last race of the Trials Day, the 4:10pm sees Potters Charm instilled as a warm favourite. This will be his fifth outing ahead of an expected tilt at the Turners Novices’ Hurdle.

There would be a slight concern that he has had a few more runs than some of the other horses at the top of the market for the Turner’s. He enters the weekend at 7/1 for his supposed March target, behind market leader and eye-catching JP McManus purchase The New Lion.

It should be a very informative weekend and I’ll be back next week to recap it, while also teeing you up for any notable upcoming contests.

Be lucky!

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