Take your pick of either of the two Grade 1s that take centre stage on Thursday.
As the championship race, it’s only fair to give the Stayers’ Hurdle (4pm) top billing, and all eyes will be on Gordon Elliott’s Teahupoo as he bids for back-to-back wins in the three-miler. The defending champion’s only run this season came in December when he chased home Lossiemouth in the Hatton’s Grace — a piece of form which Elliott feels is stronger than his prep 12 months ago.
Joseph O’Brien’s Home By The Lee — third last year — reopposes as do betting outsiders Crambo and Buddy One. But given that Elliott is yet to have a winner this week, he’ll be delighted if Teahupoo’s greatest challenge comes from inside the Cullentra yard: The Wallpark won four on the spin — and was bought by JP McManus — before finishing fourth in the Long Walk Hurdle, and won’t be without his supporters.
What about the Ryanair then?
If the Ryanair Chase (3.20pm) is scheduled as the curtain-raiser to the main event, make sure you take your seat in good time: the three-way tussle between Fact to File, Il Est Francais, and last year’s winner Protektorat is set to be a cracker.
In the favourite Fact to File, you’ve one of only four horses to finish in front of Galopin des Champs over the last three years (quiz question: name the other three? Answer at the bottom). That win came over two-and-a-half miles in the John Durkan, but he couldn’t back it up over the longer trip in either the Savills Chase or Irish Gold Cup, and so finds himself aimed here rather than at another rematch in Friday’s blue riband.
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In Il Est Francais, you have a horse who has only run in England twice in his career, and grabbed the headlines on both occasions: first, with his stunning Kauto Star win in December 2023, and then when very nearly going wire-to-wire in the King George 12 months later only to be collared after the last by Banbridge.
Home hopeful Protektorat timed his challenge to perfection to win this race last year, and trainer Dan Skelton — who was in the winner’s enclosure with The New Lion on Wednesday — feels that his season has been trending upwards race by race.
You won’t want to miss it.
Gordon Elliott’s jockey headache
All eyes will be on the morning medical reports from the track to see if two of Gordon Elliott’s regular riders, Jack Kennedy and Sam Ewing, are fit to race on Thursday.
Both jockeys stood themselves down during Wednesday’s card: Kennedy, cruelly, after aggravating the broken leg which sidelined him for three months in the run-up to the Festival, while Ewing also reported feeling ‘very sore’ with the effects of an old injury.
Both are heavily booked for Thursday’s card, with Kennedy due to ride Stayers’ Hurdle favourite Teahupoo as well as another live chance with Firefox in the Novices’ Handicap Chase at 2pm.
Anything else?
In an incredibly poignant hour of racing on Wednesday, Marine Nationale and Jazzy Matty — two horses synonymous with the late Michael O’Sullivan — both stormed up the famous hill for hugely emotional wins.
Michael’s memory will be to the fore again on Thursday when his younger brother, Alan, makes his Cheltenham debut in the final race on the card: the Kim Muir Challenge Cup for amateur jockeys (5.20pm).
Alan rides Walking On Air, who has been backed into favouritism; you can safely bet that that there’d be no more popular winner this week.
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Cheltenham 2025: Can Teahupoo get Gordon Elliott on the board?
Cheltenham Festival 2025 – Day Three
What’s the big race to focus on?
Take your pick of either of the two Grade 1s that take centre stage on Thursday.
As the championship race, it’s only fair to give the Stayers’ Hurdle (4pm) top billing, and all eyes will be on Gordon Elliott’s Teahupoo as he bids for back-to-back wins in the three-miler. The defending champion’s only run this season came in December when he chased home Lossiemouth in the Hatton’s Grace — a piece of form which Elliott feels is stronger than his prep 12 months ago.
Joseph O’Brien’s Home By The Lee — third last year — reopposes as do betting outsiders Crambo and Buddy One. But given that Elliott is yet to have a winner this week, he’ll be delighted if Teahupoo’s greatest challenge comes from inside the Cullentra yard: The Wallpark won four on the spin — and was bought by JP McManus — before finishing fourth in the Long Walk Hurdle, and won’t be without his supporters.
What about the Ryanair then?
If the Ryanair Chase (3.20pm) is scheduled as the curtain-raiser to the main event, make sure you take your seat in good time: the three-way tussle between Fact to File, Il Est Francais, and last year’s winner Protektorat is set to be a cracker.
In the favourite Fact to File, you’ve one of only four horses to finish in front of Galopin des Champs over the last three years (quiz question: name the other three? Answer at the bottom). That win came over two-and-a-half miles in the John Durkan, but he couldn’t back it up over the longer trip in either the Savills Chase or Irish Gold Cup, and so finds himself aimed here rather than at another rematch in Friday’s blue riband.
In Il Est Francais, you have a horse who has only run in England twice in his career, and grabbed the headlines on both occasions: first, with his stunning Kauto Star win in December 2023, and then when very nearly going wire-to-wire in the King George 12 months later only to be collared after the last by Banbridge.
Home hopeful Protektorat timed his challenge to perfection to win this race last year, and trainer Dan Skelton — who was in the winner’s enclosure with The New Lion on Wednesday — feels that his season has been trending upwards race by race.
You won’t want to miss it.
Gordon Elliott’s jockey headache
All eyes will be on the morning medical reports from the track to see if two of Gordon Elliott’s regular riders, Jack Kennedy and Sam Ewing, are fit to race on Thursday.
Both jockeys stood themselves down during Wednesday’s card: Kennedy, cruelly, after aggravating the broken leg which sidelined him for three months in the run-up to the Festival, while Ewing also reported feeling ‘very sore’ with the effects of an old injury.
Both are heavily booked for Thursday’s card, with Kennedy due to ride Stayers’ Hurdle favourite Teahupoo as well as another live chance with Firefox in the Novices’ Handicap Chase at 2pm.
Anything else?
In an incredibly poignant hour of racing on Wednesday, Marine Nationale and Jazzy Matty — two horses synonymous with the late Michael O’Sullivan — both stormed up the famous hill for hugely emotional wins.
Michael’s memory will be to the fore again on Thursday when his younger brother, Alan, makes his Cheltenham debut in the final race on the card: the Kim Muir Challenge Cup for amateur jockeys (5.20pm).
Alan rides Walking On Air, who has been backed into favouritism; you can safely bet that that there’d be no more popular winner this week.
Race Card
TV coverage
(Answer: Fastorslow, Appreciate It and Spillane’s Tower are the other horses to have beaten Galopin Des Champs since April 2022.)
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Cheltenham Day Three Horse Racing