Leading Contenders for Day One Of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival
The opening day of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival is arguably the strongest card of the week, with the Champion Hurdle, Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and Arkle Trophy all taking place. Here is a look at the leading contenders for the major races on day one of the meeting and their chances of success.
Constitution Hill the Biggest Star on Show
Former Champion Hurdle winner Constitution Hill is set to make his return to the Cheltenham Festival for the first time since he landed the premier hurdles race in 2023. Nicky Henderson’s star has won the Christmas Hurdle and International Hurdle this season following his return to the track.
Constitution Hill is the 4/7 favourite in the Cheltenham odds for the Champion Hurdle. He is one of the shortest-priced favourites across the week at the meeting, and based on his two performances this season, he is hard to oppose.
A second Champion Hurdle triumph will elevate Constitution Hill to greatness. Many pundits make him one of their leading Cheltenham tips for the Festival this year as he looks over the setback that ruled him out of the meeting in 2024.
Henderson’s runner is set to take on the defending champion State Man, who recently prevailed in the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown. He may also come up against exciting Irish mare Brighterdaysahead. Both of those horses will need a career-best performance to get the better of the former winner.
Kopek Des Bordes Oozes Class Over Hurdles
Willie Mullins looks to have a star on his hands with Kopek Des Bordes. The five-year-old won the Grade One Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle by 13 lengths at the Dublin Racing Festival to establish himself as a leading Supreme Novices’ Hurdle contender.
Rider Paul Townend was motionless on board Kopek Des Bordes in the closing stages of the race at Leopardstown which indicates there may be more to come from the horse. He looks likely to be Townend’s choice of rides over stablemate Salvator Mundi in the Festival curtain raiser.
Romeo Coolio is the other Grade One winner expected to line up in the Supreme Novices Hurdle. However, if Kopek Des Bordes takes another step forward, his rivals will find it difficult to finish ahead of him.
Sir Gino’s Absence Opens Door for Majborough
One of the most notable absentees at this year’s Cheltenham Festival will be Sir Gino. He was expected to be a warm favourite for the Arkle Trophy, but an injury picked up on the gallops has ruled him out of action for the rest of the season.
With Sir Gino now out of the Arkle Trophy, Majborough sits at the top of the betting for the race. He deserves that position as last season’s Triumph Hurdle winner has not put a hoof wrong over fences. His latest win came in the Grade One Irish Arkle.
Although Majborough’s Irish Arkle victory is the standout piece of form of any runner in this year’s Arkle, the opposition will be much stronger to him at Cheltenham. Both L’Eau du Sud and Jango Baie are strong contenders for the home team, and one of those horses may be able to cause an upset in the second race of the meeting.
Enjoy all the action from the opening day of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival. Hopefully, the meeting can get off to a flying start on the Tuesday.