Cheltenham November Meeting 2025: Greatwood Handicap Hurdle race analysis and preview 

Cheltenham will take centre stage this weekend, as racing’s elite flock to the Gloucestershire hills for the 2025 November meeting. 

With 22 races scheduled, the meeting is a known hunting ground for elite horses looking to play their hand in proceedings at the Cheltenham Festival, later in the season. 

The meeting itself, however, plays host to some fantastic races, including the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle. 

Ran on the final day of the meeting, it highlights the card on Sunday, November 16 – due off at 15:30pm.

For exclusive stories and all the detailed Racing news you need, subscribe to the Racing Ahead website, digital edition, or magazine from as little as 8p a day.

Alexei 

The betting market is wide open and there are 12 horses priced at 20/1 – or shorter – looking to take home a share of prize money worth £100,000. 

Joint-favourites Alexei and Celtic Dino open the betting at 5/1, after they finished in a 1-2 in the Welsh Champion Hurdle last month. 

The former will arrive here off the back of two outings already this campaign, in which he finished second (behind Celtic Dino) – at Chepstow – and won at Ascot. 

In the aftermath of his Ascot win, his trainer – Joe Tizzard – confirmed his intentions and said: “I was thrilled with that, he’d really come on for his Chepstow run. 

“He’s gone up 7lb for the win, he’ll go to the Greatwood next weekend now and we’re really looking forward to it.

“He loves a bit of decent ground, so we’ve got to make hay while the sun shines with him at the minute before it gets too soft.

“He’s an improving, young horse and one we’re excited about.”

That race saw him finish first past the post for the first time since December last year, when he began his time under Tizzard with consecutive wins in Novice hurdle races. 

Those two runs preceded unplaced efforts in Listed and Class Three Handicap company, though the five-year-old gelding seems primed for this, following his runs this season. 

Celtic Dino

He is joined at the top of the market by the Welsh Champion Hurdle winner Celtic Dino – though he is likely to bypass the meeting in favour of the Grade One Fighting Fifth Hurdle, at Newcastle, on November 29. 

A third-placed third in a Novices’ Grade Two race last season followed a run in Novice Grade One company, in which he was beaten into fourth by Potters Charm. 

Those two runs were bookended by two wins and a place, with the first two coming prior and the placed effort coming on his final outing last season.  

After his victory at Chepstow, his trainer Sam Thomas said: “He had his conditions there and it’s a big relief to see him do that. 

“He’s a beautiful mover, covers the ground well and is a very nice horse. I felt he had to do that if he was going to continue progressing.

“He won that off a higher mark than Lump Sum last season, so we might have to go down the same road. 

“He’s very much ground dependent, but he’s earned his place in the Fighting Fifth.”

Mirabad

Mirabad comes next in the ante-post betting, trading at 7/1 and is due to have his first run for trainer Dan Skelton since moving from Dr Richard Newland’s yard. 

Formerly trained on the flat in France, Mirabad has won three hurdle races in Britain, two of which came last season. 

Wins at Hereford and Cheltenham bookend a third-placed effort at Ascot, whilst they are preceded by a second-placed finish – on seasonal reappearance – and a 10th-placed finish at Newbury, in a Novice Grade Three race, on his latest start – back in January. 

Knickerbockerglory

He is one of two Skelton runners in the market, with Knickerbockerglory also in with a chance – priced at 14/1.

The latter was last seen in April, finishing fourth to the Willie Mullins-trained, dual-purpose raider Absurde in the Sussex Champion Hurdle. 

It was the latest of credible efforts in Class Two Handicaps last season, which also featured a win at Sandown. 

Gibbs Island

Gibbs Island and Iberico Lord are given the same chance by the betting market, with both horses priced at 10/1. 

The former won two of his six races last season, both of which came consecutively, after moving yards to that of trainer Tom Lacey’s. 

He was pulled up in the Triumph Hurdle at last season’s Cheltenham Festival and was beaten into eighth at the Grand National Festival, though made a winning return to action when winning a Class Two Hurdles race for four-year-olds last month. 

Iberico Lord

Iberico Lord, meanwhile, was highly tried but came up very short in his races last season. 

The JP McManus-owned seven-year-old hasn’t hit the highs of February 2024, when he defeated L’eau Du Sud in the Betfair Hurdle. 

It followed his triumph in the 2023 renewal of this race, but that Newbury win remains only one of two wins since his win here two years ago. 

He also remains trainer Nicky Henderson’s only horse to win the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle.

Helnwein & others

Helnwein began last season with a second-placed effort, before finishing fourth in back-to-back races for which he was favourite.

Those runs preceded wind surgery and three-placed efforts, one of which was in Grade Three company, when he was last seen.

He is another horse given a 14/1 chance, whilst Bowensonfire, Laafi and Leloopa are at 16’s. 

READ MORE: Cheltenham November Meeting 2025: Shloer Chase race analysis and preview