Cheltenham November Meeting 2025: Dates, how to watch on TV, trainers and jockey to watch 

Cheltenham will stage its festival appetiser in under two weeks’ time, as the 2025 November Meeting gets underway. 

The excitement of National-Hunt racing returns to the Gloucestershire course, with the highly anticipated event taking centre stage. 

Run over three days in mid-November, the meeting will see star-quality in action, with many intending to run at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Twenty scheduled races will not only provide the clues needed for an ante-post bet, but also thrilling entertainment – highlighted by the running of two prestigious Handicap contests. 

As the sun dawns on another National-Hunt season, here is everything you need to know about Cheltenham’s November Meeting. 

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When is the 2025 Cheltenham November Meeting? 

The Lycetts Insurance Brokers Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle Race gets the meeting underway on Friday, November 14. 

It is due off at 1:10pm and highlights a six-race card where the feature race is the (Grade Two) Shloer Steeplechase – due off at 2:20pm, it preceeds the running of the Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap and the (Grade Two) Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle. 

Day two is known as Super Saturday and it plays host to the PaddyPower Gold Cup, which is the middle race on a seven-race card, due off at 2:20pm. 

It is the headlining race of the meeting whilst also highlighting a card that features the running of two Grade Two races – notably the Triumph Hurdle Trial. 

The Unibet Greatwood Hurdle is the standout contest on Carnival Sunday, as the meeting comes to a close with a six-race card on Sunday November 16. 

Trainers to watch

Willie Mullins

Willie Mullins will return to the day job after his Stateside exploits, as he claimed his maiden victory in the Breeders’ Cup last weekend. 

The renowned Irish trainer sent Ethical Diamond, winner of the Ebor Handicap despite spending most of his career jumping obstacles, across the pond and he soared to victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, priced at 25/1. 

Last season’s Grand National-winning trainer said: “It might come second best to winning the Grand National with my son Patrick on board, I couldn’t believe it.”

Newly-crowned Irish champion jockey Dylan Browne-McMonagle said: “It’s an unbelievable training performance. It doesn’t get much bigger than this.”

Mullins’ powerful yard is sure to have a strong hand at the meeting, at a course where he has trained more winners than any other trainer over the last five seasons.

Gordon Elliott & Nicky Henderson

Gordon Elliott represents another Irish yard looking to challenge on British soil and he is the current leader of the Irish Trainers’ Championship – albeit narrowly. 

He is no stranger to training winners at Cheltenham, nor are Henry De Bromhead and Gavin Cromwell – who follow the top two in the Irish Trainers’ Championship standings. 

Nicky Henderson has once again sounded bullish on the chances of Constitution Hill, as he enters ‘now or never’ territory, in regards to his career. 

The 2023 Champion Hurdle winner will make his return at Newcastle, in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle, on November 29 – though his trainer is sure to make use of this meeting for his stable stars. 

Dan Skelton

The Seven Barrows man has trained 10 fewer Cheltenham winners than Mullins over the last five seasons, as has Dan Skelton – who found himself in a head-to-head shootout with Mullins for last season’s Trainers Championship. 

Skelton led the Championship for much of the season, though succumbed to the Irishman in the final weeks of the season. 

Although it has only just begun, he currently leads this season’s Trainers’ Championship, but his horses are likely to come on for a run. 

Skelton went 0/27 with Novice Hurdlers having their first start of the season in October. 

Olly Murphy & others

Olly Murphy is a trainer in form at the moment, having seen five of his last 19 runners win, but it may pay dividends to follow Paul Nicholls – the man who has trained the most Cheltenham winners. 

He is on 28 winners for the season, fewer than any other trainer within the top five of the Trainers Championship – but trails Skelton by only £400,000. 

Other names such as Lucinda Russel and Nigel Twiston-Davies are also trainers to keep on side.

Jockeys to watch

Nico De Boinville

Seven Barrows Stable jockey Nico De Boinville missed the end of last season due to spinal and neck injuries, which he suffered after a fall at Plumpton on Easter Monday. 

He has since returned to action with a win for the Twiston-Davies team at Stratford last month and is sure to be on board some of Henderson’s Cheltenham protagonists later this month. 

Just five winners separate the top-five jockeys at Cheltenham over the last five seasons, with De-Boinville trailing Harry Skelton by four and leading Paul Townend by one. 

Townend is sure to head the Mullins challenge, whilst the Skelton brothers will pair up for the majority of their runners. 

2023/24 Champion Jockey Harry Cobden has had 24 winning rides at Cheltenham, over the last five years, with Sam Twiston-Davies riding one more – two fewer than Skelton. 

Sean Bowen

However, there is no one more in-form than Sean Bowen at the moment, as he seems to ride winners in every race that he rides in. 

From his last 28 rides, he has finished outside the places just five times, and he currently leads the British Jockeys’ Championship as he goes in search of back-to-back Champion Jockey titles. 

Bowen has ridden 125 winners already this campaign, operating at a strike-rate of 28% – better than any other jockey within the top-10 of the British Jockeys’ Championship standings. 

His brother James follows him in the standings, whilst two-time (back-to-back) Champion Jockey Brian Hughes is in third. 

Other jockeys

Other British jockeys to look out for include Tom Bellamy, Gavin Sheehan and Ben Jones – all of whom are in form at the moment. 

The former has seen 11 of his last 13 rides place (five winners) and the latter two sit sixth and seventh in the British Jockeys’ Championship. 

Other than Townend, Irish challengers to keep on side are Keith Donoghue, Jack Kennedy and championship leader Darragh O’Keeffe. 

How to watch the Cheltenham November Meeting on TV

ITV will screen all the action live and for free, on their ITV Racing programme, whilst Racing TV will broadcast their subscription based service on Sky channel 424. 

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