The Cheltenham Festival is the highlight of the National Hunt racing season, with the big-name horses, jockeys, trainers and owners ascending on the hallowed turf of the iconic Prestbury Park in a bid to secure some of the biggest prizes in the sport.
From the Gold Cup 2025 to the prestigious Champion Hurdle, the top-class races at the Cheltenham Festival will be littered with star-studded horses from the top yards and biggest connections, all vying to write their name in the history books with career-defining success in the picturesque Cotswolds.
That said, let’s take a look at some of the standout names hoping to light up the latest renewal of the Cheltenham Festival.
Galopin Des Champs
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is not just the feature race of the Festival but one of the highest-profile races of the entire jumps racing season. This year, history beckons.
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Two-time winner Galopin Des Champs is on a quest to join an exclusive shortlist of horses to have completed the hat-trick—with the most recent being Best Mate over 20 years ago.
The Willie Mullins-trained nine-year-old is heading into Cheltenham in red-hot form after back-to-back Grade 1 successes at Leopardstown, including in the Irish Gold Cup, and is the 2/5 favourite.
With his stablemate Fact To File likely to go to the Ryanair Chase, King George VI Chase champion Banbridge and the JP McManus-owned Corbetts Cross are Galopin Des Champs’ main rivals.
Constitution Hill
Arguably the biggest name in National Hunt racing, the indomitable Constitution Hill was greatly missed at last year’s Cheltenham Festival after picking up a life-threatening dose of colic.
However, he’s returned to his very best this season—taking his unbeaten tally to 10 with commanding performances in the Christmas and International Hurdles at Kempton and Cheltenham, respectively. Nicky Henderson’s stable star now has sights firmly set on regaining his Champion Hurdle crown from State Man in what could be the race of the meeting.
Constitution Hill will take on the defending champion as well as star mares Lossiemouth and Brighterdaysahead in the opening day’s feature race and is the favourite in the horse betting.
Willie Mullins
Prestbury Park has been Mullins’ playground for the best part of over a decade, with the Irish trainer having a stranglehold on the Cheltenham Festival like we’ve never seen before.
An 11-time winner of the sought-after Leading Trainer accolade, Mullins is expected to extend that record with an unfathomable seventh-straight triumph this year.
The 68-year-old, who became the first handler to break the 100-win barrier at the Festival last year, is set to saddle an array of favourites.
Those include the aforementioned Galopin Des Champs, Kopek Des Bordes in the SkyBet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Majborough in the Arkle and Final Demand in the Turners Novices’ Hurdle.
JP McManus
Another dominant force at the Cheltenham Festival, JP McManus, is the most prominent owner at Prestbury Park with over 70 victories to his name.
The Irish billionaire, who is the most successful jumps owner of all time with more than 4,000 wins, picked up his first Festival victory with Mister Donovan in 1982 and is still going strong 40 years later.
McManus has an incredibly powerful crop of horses set to dominate this year’s Cheltenham Festival and could have over half of the favourites don his famous green and gold silks.
Jonbon and the previously mentioned Majborough are both odds-on for their respective contests and two of the biggest to note.
