Back Mullins’ mare to make no Lossie in the Champion March 9, 2026 DAY ONE at Cheltenham is headlined by the Champion Hurdle (4.00pm) and by the time the opening four contests on the card have been run, the 50,000 plus punters at Prestbury Park will be at fever pitch. The crowd were silenced last year when favourite Constitution Hill fell at the fourth last, and unfortunately with [...]
I’m absolutely Mad for Skelton’s hotpot in the Plate March 9, 2026 DAN SKELTON is well clear at the top of the trainers’ championship with a lead of almost £2 million, so it’s going to be difficult for Willie Mullins to crash his party again this year. The Warwickshire-based handler has plenty of bullets to fire this week, including a number of favourites in the handicaps. [...]
Tornado and Iceberg on radar in National Hunt Chase March 9, 2026 PLENTY of changes have been made in recent years to races at the Cheltenham Festival and none more so than with the conditions of the National Hunt Chase (5.20pm). Once a race restricted to amateur riders over four miles with no handicap band, it is now open to all jockeys, restricted to those horses rated [...]
Episode 73: Day One of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival March 9, 2026 Tom Marriott and Bill Esdaile spin through all seven races on the opening day of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival, with selections and analysis of each contest. Tom and Bill will be previewing the action from each day of the Festival this week, so keep an eye out for a new podcast daily! The Punter ‘The [...]
Townend reveals Bumper horse would be Hel of a ride March 8, 2026 STILL grinning from her maiden Cheltenham Festival success last year, Jody Townend sat down to reveal her and team Mullins’ plans for 2026. Younger sister to Willie Mullins’ stable jockey and 38-time Festival winning rider Paul, Townend, still an amateur, isn’t at the top of the pecking order at Closutton, but the 28-year-old has ridden [...]
Madara among Timeform’s best-handicapped horses heading to Cheltenham March 6, 2026 DAN SKELTON’s Madara has been named as one of the best-handicapped horses heading to next week’s Cheltenham Festival by Timeform. The ratings experts have the seven-year-old, who is due to run in Tuesday’s Sun Racing Plate Handicap Chase, six pounds clear of his official BHA mark of 140. The Rebecca Curtis-trained Ben Solo – seven [...]
Network to make a Fast return to winners’ enclosure March 6, 2026 SHA TIN in Hong Kong hosts a mixed bag of action on their 11-race programme on Sunday, with racing taking place on both turf and the all-weather. The feature race on the card, the Class One Essex Handicap (9.10am) over six furlongs promises to be a real humdinger. With eight former Group winners lining-up, FAST [...]
Vitam can prove too Powerful at Sha Tin March 6, 2026 WITH the BMW Hong Kong Derby only a couple of weeks away, but there are still chances for several gallopers on show at Sha Tin on Sunday to realise their owners’ dreams of making the line-up if posting convincing victories and gaining enough rating points. The likes of improving Natural Numbers, former Irish import Violet [...]
Brace for Eric to land Imperial Cup March 3, 2026 SANDOWN’s Imperial Cup (2.27pm) always marks the final Saturday before the Cheltenham Festival. The feature race has a £100,000 bonus in place for the winner if they can go on to win any race at Prestbury Park the following week. Langer Dan has got closest in recent years, finishing second to none other than Galopin [...]
Improving Wellington can make a splash at Cheltenham March 3, 2026 WE’RE just under a week out from the Cheltenham Festival and the anticipation for the big four days is almost at fever pitch. We’ve had seven ante-post swings so far and hopefully are sitting on some nice tickets heading into the Festival. For a final selection, I’m going to look at the newly named [...]