This article is taken from the March 2026 issue of The Critic. To get the full magazine why not subscribe? Get five issues for just £25.
It’s that time of year, when I publicly humiliate myself with my Cheltenham tips. For eleven months of the year I try to steer clear of betting advice. I’d rather you didn’t hate me, after all.
When I did write a tipping column, back in the 1990s, I would be stopped in the street — honestly, it happened — and asked for tips. Even when I pointed out that the column was called “Mug Punter” for a reason, they’d still want one.
So with that caveat, here are my thoughts on this year’s Cheltenham (in mitigation I point out that I am writing this weeks before the first race).
As for that first race … it’s my nap of the meeting. I think Nicky Henderson is going to have a stellar Cheltenham and it will begin with Old Park Star in the Supreme Novices. I’ve rarely been so impressed by a novice as in his three runs this season. Indeed, given the paucity of this year’s Champion Hurdle, I’d have been tempted to run him in that if I owned him. He is a stand-out 2/1 bet.
The next race, the Arkle, sees Henderson’s Lulamba taking on the massed Irish novice chasers. I think he will win (6/4).
Then it’s the Champion Hurdle. Without the injured State Man and Sir Gino we’re left with Brighterdaysahead as favourite. She won impressively at Leopardstown at the beginning of February, but I can’t get her limp display in last year’s Champion Hurdle out of my mind.
That leaves Lossiemouth, but I just don’t think she is as good as the hype — as her defeat by Brighterdaysahead showed — and then The New Lion. I can see him winning not because he is much cop but because the others are worse.
But would I take 5/2? Never. I’m not tipping him, but surely you could do worse than last year’s lucky winner Golden Ace (lucky because two horses fell to hand him the race) at 6/1. He is at least fit and honest. I wouldn’t put it past Nicky Henderson to produce Constitution Hill, who has fallen in three of his last four races and been totally uninterested in the other, to win — which would be the greatest training performance of all time. I think it could be one of those Champion Hurdles when a decent handicapper steals the prize, so I’ll have a small each-way bet on Alexei at 33/1.
Wednesday is Champion Chase day. I’ve always been a Majborough sceptic, thinking that whilst he’s clearly fast, he can’t jump reliably. But after his scintillating win in the Dublin Chase, I’ve changed my mind. It looks like Willie Mullins has found the secret. But I can’t let Henderson’s wonderful Jonbon go unbacked each way at 20/1 for a last hurrah.
In the Turners Novices’ Hurdle, Paul Nicholls looks to have a good one in No Drama This End (9/2). Mullins’s Doctor Steinberg will be tough to beat if he runs instead of in the longer Albert Bartlett but I’m sticking with the home team.
I’d love Gordon Elliott’s Romeo Coolio to run in the Brown Advisory, but I think they are going to make the mistake of going for the Arkle. He seems a stayer to me, and I think Lulamba will destroy him over two miles. But he would be perfect for the three miles of the Brown Advisory (12/1 non-runner no bet).
If Lossiemouth goes for the Mares’ Hurdle on Thursday rather than the Champion Hurdle, I’d have her at 5/4. In the Stayers’ Hurdle I fancy the old timer Bob Olinger (6/1) to repeat last year’s win. As for the Ryanair, as I write the line-up is a mystery. I’ll be on whichever of Willie Mullins’s Fact To File or Gaelic Warrior runs — or Jonbon if he goes for this rather than the Champion Chase.
Which brings us to the final day, Friday. The Triumph Hurdle looks open. I think Willie Mullins’s Narciso Has is a worthy favourite, but as his Poniros showed last year at 100/1, anything can happen.
In the Mares’ Chase, I rate Dinoblue (6/4) as one of the bets of the week and Doctor Steinberg (3/1) should be backed in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.
Before we come to the Gold Cup, a word about the handicap chases. It’s not yet clear which they’ll run in, but the two horses I am most keen on are Emmet Mullins’s Backmersackme, who won well at the Dublin Festival with Sean Bowen on board, and Jagwar, who won last year at Cheltenham and I think is primed to so again.
As for the Gold Cup: We don’t yet know which of Willie Mullins’s army of staying chasers will line up, and there are so many others worthy of their place. But I think there is a stand-out runner, and I’ve been convinced Jango Baie would win for Nicky Henderson since last year’s festival when he won the Arkle over two miles, a distance far too short for him. His fourth in the blanket finish to the King George on Boxing Day has made me even keener on him. I took 25/1 last year, and he’s now only 4/1 — but that’s still a good bet.
Mixed fourfolds, fivefolds, sixfolds, Sevenfolds, eighfolds and ninefolds:
Old Park Star 2/1 Supreme Novices’
Lulamba 6/4 Arkle Chase
Majborough 6/4 Champion Chase
No Drama This End 9/2 Turners Novices’
Lossiemouth 6/4 Mares’ Hurdle
Bob Olinger 6/1 Stayers’ Hurdle
Dinoblue 6/4 Mares’ Chase
Doctor Steinberg 3/1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle
Jango Baie 4/1 Gold Cup
Also recommended:
Alexei 33/1 ew Champion Hurdle
Jonbon 20/1 ew Champion Chase
Romeo Coolie 12/1 (non-runner no bet) Brown Advisory
Backmersackme
Jagwar
