Cheltenham Festival 2026: Champion Hurdle race analysis and preview 

In just over five weeks’ time the 2026 National Hunt season will stage its showpiece event, as the Cheltenham Festival gets underway. 

Four days of unrivalled racing action will take place in the Gloucestershire countryside, staging 28 races across four seven-race cards. 

Each day sees a feature race take centre stage and day one’s is the Champion Hurdle, due off at 4pm on Tuesday, March 10. 

The race headlines a card opened by the (Grade One) Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and will see elite horses go head-to-head across two miles of Cheltenham’s iconic old course. 

Runners and riders are due to jump eight flights of hurdles, as they bid to write their name into the history books and take home a share of £450,000 in prize money. 

This year’s renewal couldn’t be any more open, following injuries to key horses and unanticipated defeats in key trial races. 

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Season-ending error

Twelve-time Cheltenham Festival Champion trainer Willie Mullins saw Sir Gino make a season-ending mistake in the Unibet Hurdle, back in January. 

He was the short-priced favourite when blundering at the top of the hill and suffering an injury that will see him miss the rest of the campaign. 

That race was won by trainer Dan Skelton’s The New Lion, who was set to rival Sir Gino in the Champion Hurdle, in March. 

Though The JP McManus-owned seven-year-old still has questions to answer, following a fall two out in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle, whilst in front. 

Much like the 2025 Champion Hurdle, trainer Jeremy Scott’s mare Golden Ace was the benefactor, as she went on to claim victory in a race that also saw Constitution Hill fall once again. 

The New Lion is currently priced at 11/4 to make back-to-back successes at the Cheltenham Festival, following last year’s win in the Turners Novices’ Hurdle. 

Put in his place

That race saw him defeat Final Demand, who was put firmly in his place at the weekend, when beaten comprehensively into third at the Dublin Racing Festival. 

Skelton’s horse is set to rival trainer Gordon Elliott’s mare Brighterdaysahead, who is the current ante-post favourite for this race. 

Her price has tumbled to 5/2, following a win at the Dublin Racing Festival – in the Irish Champion Hurdle – in which she reversed the December Hurde form with Lossiemouth. 

Elliott’s mare went off at 5/2 for this race last season, though couldn’t take advantage of the falls suffered by her main market rivals Constitution Hill and State Man. 

She was beaten a long way into fourth and finished last but one of those that finished a dramatic renewal of the Champion Hurdle. 

Third-placed effort

Her final run of last season ended in a third-placed effort in the Irish Mares Champion Hurdle, before her seasonal reappearance saw her just touched off by Lossiemouth, in the December Hurdle. 

In the aftermath of her latest run, Elliott said: “She’s been there (Cheltenham) twice and hasn’t won, but hopefully she’ll put that right. 

“It’s great to be involved in these races and to win them is extra special. 

“Lossiemouth is a superstar and so is our mare; all you have to do is look at her, she’d take the eye out of your head – she’s gorgeous.

“We knew she’d improve from the last day; whether she was good enough to beat Lossiemouth, we weren’t sure, but she was very tough.

“I think the fast pace suited her and Jack said she never jumped or travelled as well as she did.”

Lead representative

Lossiemouth is also entered into this race and seems certain to be Mullins’ lead representative, following Sir Gino’s injury and Anzadam’s lack-lustre campaign. 

The latter had been hotly tipped by Mullins prior to the season, though didn’t get up in the Fighting Fifth and was hammered in the aforementioned races won by Lossiemouth and Brighterdaysahead.  

Lossiemouth is priced at 7/1 to win the Champion Hurdle and is still yet to place outside the top two in any of her 17 completed races. 

She is a nine-time Grade One winner and will look to win her 10th at the Festival, be it in this race or the Mares’ Hurdle – which she has won the last twice. 

Following her recent defeat to Brighterdaysahead, Mullins said: “I was disappointed. From early on it looked like she didn’t turn up. I don’t know why. 

“Possibly [it was] this very heavy ground but we will see how she comes out of it.”

Owner Rich Ricci echoed the trainer’s words, saying: “Paul said we were beaten a long way from home. 

“We’ll see if anything comes to light, maybe she just doesn’t like Leopardstown. 

“She’s a good Cheltenham mare so we’ll go home and figure it out.”

Constitution Hill remains entered into the race despite falling once again in the Fighting Fifth and he is priced at 6/1 to overturn his adversities and claim his second Champion Hurdle win. 

He is due to make his flat debut, on Southwell’s all-weather course, later this month but could yet run at the Festival in March. 

Flat potential

His trainer, Nicky Henderson, told Unibet: “I think the objective of running him at Southwell is so I can hopefully see what potential he has for racing on the Flat and if we can go further down that route.

“He is in great form and if it continues that way he will definitely run on February 20 and that will then tell us what future he has, or if we have to start thinking again.

Golden Ace heads the rest of the market at 9/1, as she looks to go back-to-back in this race. 

She was beaten into second by State Man, in the Boodles Champion Hurdle, on her final start last season, before finishing second in two of her runs this season – either side of her win at Newcastle. 

The first came in a match race at Wetherby, where she was beaten 28 lengths by Katiera and the latter came when she was six lengths behind Sir Gino, on Boxing Day. 

Anzadam, Ballynurn and Poniros are all out at 25/1 to win this race, with them likely to ply their trade in other races at the meeting. 

READ MORE: Cheltenham Festival 2026: Dates, how to watch on TV, trainers and jockeys to watch