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By The Guv'nor · Last updated October 2026
The 2027 Cheltenham Festival runs from Tuesday 16 to Friday 19 March: four days, 28 races. Good Cheltenham Festival tips start with the prices. In 2026 only 8 of 28 Betfair SP favourites won, and 16 of the 28 winners went off at a BSP of 10.0 or bigger. My 2027 preview is built on numbers like that.
Next up at Cheltenham: the November Meeting (13-15 November 2026)
The Festival is five months away, but Cheltenham's season starts long before March. These are the next fixtures at the course, as listed on The Jockey Club's Cheltenham fixtures page on 5 October 2026:
- The Showcase: Friday 23 and Saturday 24 October 2026.
- The November Meeting: Friday 13 to Sunday 15 November 2026. Friday is Countryside Day, Saturday is "Super Saturday" featuring the Paddy Power Gold Cup, and Sunday is Carnival Sunday featuring the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle.
The November Meeting is the first proper test of the season at the track. For Cheltenham November meeting tips, last year's runnings of the same races are the obvious place to start. In 2025 the Paddy Power Gold Cup went to Panic Attack (9yo, 11-1, Dan Skelton) at 6/1 in a 12-runner field on soft, heavy in places, with the 10/3 favourite Vincenzo second. The Greatwood went to the 10/3 favourite Alexei (5yo, 11-4, Joe Tizzard) in an 18-runner field.
Paddy Power Gold Cup: the last ten winners
If you're after Paddy Power Gold Cup tips, here's what has won the race over the last ten runnings (it was the BetVictor Gold Cup from 2016 to 2019). Weight is what the winner actually carried, after any jockey's claim.
| Year | Winner | Age | Weight carried | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Panic Attack | 9 | 11-1 | Dan Skelton |
| 2024 | Il Ridoto | 7 | 9-13 | Paul Nicholls |
| 2023 | Stage Star | 7 | 11-7 | Paul Nicholls |
| 2022 | Ga Law | 6 | 11-0 | Jamie Snowden |
| 2021 | Midnight Shadow | 8 | 11-5 | Sue Smith |
| 2020 | Coole Cody | 9 | 10-5 | Evan Williams |
| 2019 | Happy Diva | 8 | 11-0 | Kerry Lee |
| 2018 | Baron Alco | 7 | 10-11 | Gary Moore |
| 2017 | Splash Of Ginge | 9 | 10-6 | Nigel Twiston-Davies |
| 2016 | Taquin Du Seuil | 9 | 11-11 | Jonjo O'Neill |
What jumps out: all ten winners were aged six to nine, six of the ten carried 11-0 or less, and all ten were trained in Britain. Ten runnings is a small sample, so treat these as filters, not laws.
After November
Cheltenham then races at the Christmas Meeting (Friday 11 and Saturday 12 December 2026), on New Year's Day and on Festival Trials Day (Saturday 30 January 2027). Away from Cheltenham, the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day and the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown are the big trials for the Festival's championship races. This section moves on as each meeting passes.
Cheltenham Festival preview 2027: the four days at a glance
The Jockey Club lists the 2027 Festival as four days and 28 races. The day names and headline races are confirmed. The full 2027 race order hadn't been published when I wrote this (5 October 2026), so the day-by-day tables below use the 2026 running order.
| Day | Date | Headline race | 2026 winner (age) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Champion Day | Tue 16 Mar 2027 | Champion Hurdle | Lossiemouth (7) |
| Ladies Day | Wed 17 Mar 2027 | Queen Mother Champion Chase | Il Etait Temps (8) |
| St Patrick's Thursday | Thu 18 Mar 2027 | Ryanair Chase and Stayers' Hurdle | Heart Wood (8) and Home By The Lee (11) |
| Gold Cup Day | Fri 19 Mar 2027 | Cheltenham Gold Cup | Gaelic Warrior (8) |
Those are last year's winners, not a shortlist. If you've come looking for Cheltenham tips 2027 this early, I'm not quoting ante-post prices yet. They move every week, and a price without the date it was taken is no use to anyone. From the February refresh, each day's notes will carry the market leaders with the date the price was taken. For the two biggest races there are full previews: Cheltenham Gold Cup tips and trends and the Champion Hurdle preview.
Cheltenham Festival tips day by day: what 2026 tells you
This is the bit you won't find on most tips pages. I've gone through all 28 races from the 2026 Festival and set each winner against the Betfair market. SP and trainer come from the official results; BSP and the favourite come from Betfair's own price files. "BSP rank" is where the winner sat in the betting at the off (1 = favourite).
Two things about the 2026 card are worth knowing before you use these. The National Hunt Chase ran as a novices' handicap chase, and the 2m4f novice chase on Thursday (registered as the Golden Miller) ran as a novices' limited handicap, the Jack Richards. So two races that used to be non-handicap novice chases are now handicaps, and 12 of the 28 races were handicaps.
Day 1 (Tuesday): Champion Day
| Race (runners) | 2026 winner (trainer) | SP (BSP) | BSP favourite | Winner's BSP rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supreme Novices' Hurdle (11) | Old Park Star (N J Henderson) | 15/8f (3.16) | Old Park Star 3.16 | 1 |
| Arkle Novices' Chase (6) | Kargese (W P Mullins) | 7/1 (10.19) | Lulamba 2.20 | 3 |
| Juvenile Handicap Hurdle, Fred Winter (22) | Saratoga (P Roche) | 10/1 (14.33) | Mustang Du Breuil 4.53 | 5 |
| Ultima Handicap Chase (22) | Johnnywho (J & A O'Neill) | 18/1 (25.86) | Jagwar 5.70 | 10 |
| Champion Hurdle (9) | Lossiemouth (W P Mullins) | 7/5f (2.65) | Lossiemouth 2.65 | 1 |
| Plate Handicap Chase (23) | Madara (D Skelton) | 3/1f (5.40) | Madara 5.40 | 1 |
| National Hunt Chase, novices' handicap (17) | Holloway Queen (N J Henderson) | 12/1 (18.10) | Backmersackme 5.35 | 7 |
The best day of the week for favourites: three of seven won, including both Grade 1 hurdles. The Ultima and the Fred Winter went the other way, with winners 10th and 5th in the betting. If you're looking for Cheltenham Festival tips for day 1, that split between the championship race and the big handicaps is the pattern to keep in mind.
Day 2 (Wednesday): Ladies Day
| Race (runners) | 2026 winner (trainer) | SP (BSP) | BSP favourite | Winner's BSP rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turners Novices' Hurdle (21) | King Rasko Grey (W P Mullins) | 11/1 (14.50) | No Drama This End 4.20 | 7 |
| Brown Advisory Novices' Chase (14) | Kitzbuhel (W P Mullins) | 11/1 (18.04) | Romeo Coolio 3.38 | 6 |
| BetMGM Cup Handicap Hurdle (24) | Jingko Blue (N J Henderson) | 9/2f (6.28) | Jingko Blue 6.28 | 1 |
| Cross Country Chase (14) | Final Orders (G P Cromwell) | 7/1 (10.51) | Favori De Champdou 3.59 | 4 |
| Queen Mother Champion Chase (10) | Il Etait Temps (W P Mullins) | 5/2 (3.66) | Majborough 1.94 | 2 |
| Grand Annual Handicap Chase (20) | Martator (Miss V Williams) | 66/1 (228.85) | Be Aware 4.71 | 19 |
| Champion Bumper (21) | The Mourne Rambler (N Meade) | 15/2 (9.60) | Love Sign D'aunou 5.60 | 4 |
One favourite from seven, and that was in a 24-runner handicap. The odds-on BSP favourite in the Champion Chase got beaten, and the Grand Annual went to a horse that was 19th of 20 in the Betfair market. Crazy right? Five of the seven went to Irish yards.
Day 3 (Thursday): St Patrick's Thursday
| Race (runners) | 2026 winner (trainer) | SP (BSP) | BSP favourite | Winner's BSP rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mares' Novices' Hurdle, Dawn Run (22) | White Noise (K Bailey & M Nicholls) | 40/1 (55.00) | Bambino Fever 2.22 | 14 |
| Jack Richards Novices' Limited Handicap Chase (18) | Meetmebythesea (B Pauling) | 9/1 (12.70) | Slade Steel 6.60 | 6 |
| Mares' Hurdle (7) | Wodhooh (G Elliott) | 5/6f (1.99) | Wodhooh 1.99 | 1 |
| Stayers' Hurdle (10) | Home By The Lee (J P O'Brien) | 33/1 (37.70) | Teahupoo 3.60 | 8 |
| Ryanair Chase (7) | Heart Wood (H de Bromhead) | 9/2 (5.90) | Jonbon 3.25 | 4 |
| Pertemps Final (24) | Supremely West (D Skelton) | 10/3f (5.25) | Supremely West 5.25 | 1 |
| Kim Muir Amateur Riders' Handicap Chase (23) | Ask Brewster (Mrs C Williams) | 22/1 (22.00) | Waterford Whispers 7.20 | 9 |
Two favourites won: Wodhooh in the Mares' Hurdle and Supremely West in the 24-runner Pertemps. Wodhooh went off 5/6 on SP, the same price as Majborough in the Champion Chase, so on SP those two were the shortest-priced favourites of the week. On Betfair SP, Majborough was a touch shorter at 1.94 to Wodhooh's 1.99. One got beaten and one won. The Stayers' Hurdle went to an 11-year-old at 33/1, which is exactly why I don't treat an age trend as a rule. The Dawn Run favourite went off at evens on SP and the winner was 40/1.
Day 4 (Friday): Gold Cup Day
| Race (runners) | 2026 winner (trainer) | SP (BSP) | BSP favourite | Winner's BSP rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Triumph Hurdle (20) | Apolon De Charnie (W P Mullins) | 50/1 (76.53) | Highland Crystal 4.90 | 12 |
| County Handicap Hurdle (23) | Wilful (J & A O'Neill) | 14/1 (18.07) | Karbau 6.10 | 6 |
| Mares' Chase (8) | Dinoblue (W P Mullins) | 11/8f (2.43) | Dinoblue 2.43 | 1 |
| Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle (22) | Johnny's Jury (Jamie Snowden) | 20/1 (22.36) | Doctor Steinberg 3.75 | 9 |
| Cheltenham Gold Cup (10) | Gaelic Warrior (W P Mullins) | 11/4jf (4.10) | Jango Baie 3.95 | 2 |
| Hunters' Chase (23) | Barton Snow (J J O'Shea) | 9/2 (6.00) | Barton Snow 6.00 (joint) | 1 (joint) |
| Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle (24) | Air Of Entitlement (H de Bromhead) | 10/1 (12.74) | East India Express 6.20 | 3 |
The Gold Cup is a nice example of why I label my data. Gaelic Warrior was joint-favourite on SP at 11/4, but Jango Baie was a touch shorter on Betfair, so on BSP the favourite was beaten. The Hunters' Chase works the other way round. For the race-by-race trends going back further than one year, see my Cheltenham Festival trends page.
Cheltenham bankers: how often do Festival favourites really win?
First, what I mean by a banker. In my newsletter a 'Banker' is one of the shorter-priced, solid bets of the day: the horse I think is most likely to do the job. It isn't a guarantee. Anyone that can guarantee you a winner is a fraudster.
Cheltenham is a tough place for bankers. Across all UK and Irish races from October 2025 to September 2026 the Betfair SP favourite won 35.0% of the time (12,991 races; the full study is on my how often do favourites win page). At the 2026 Festival it was 8 of 28, or 28.6%. Here's how that breaks down, from the tables above:
| 2026 Festival races | Races (N) | BSP favourite won | Strike rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| All races | 28 | 8 | 28.6% |
| Non-handicaps | 16 | 5 | 31.3% |
| Handicaps | 12 | 3 | 25.0% |
| Grade 1 races | 13 | 3 | 23.1% |
| Novice, juvenile and bumper Grade 1s | 7 | 1 | 14.3% |
| Odds-on BSP favourites | 2 | 1 | 50.0% |
One Festival is a tiny sample, so don't build a system on it. But two things stand out. The novice Grade 1s, where the form is thinnest, were the worst races for favourites. And the favourites that did win were mostly not short: five of the eight were bigger than 3.0 on Betfair. With hindsight, a 1pt bet on every BSP favourite (29 bets, as the Hunters' Chase had joint favourites) would have made +4.16 points before commission. That's a one-week, hindsight number, not a strategy, but it does show the point I always make: strike rate and profit are different things.
So when people search for Cheltenham bankers, my answer is that there are fewer of them than the hype says. A favourite in a small-field championship race is a different animal from a favourite in a 22-runner novice hurdle.
Each-way angles at the Festival: big fields and place terms
If you want Cheltenham each-way tips, this is where I think the Festival is best for punters. Eleven of the twelve handicaps in 2026 had 16 or more runners, and in those 11 races eight winners went off at a BSP of 10.0 or bigger. The favourite won three of them.
Standard each-way terms reward that. Under Coral's published rules, for example, a handicap with 16 or more runners pays a quarter of the odds for the first four, while a non-handicap with eight or more pays a fifth for the first three. Some bookmakers offer extra places on the big races, so always check the terms before you bet. Full place-term tables and the break-even maths are on my each-way betting explained page.
Finishes 3rd: the place half pays 5/1, so £30 back and +£20 profit.
Wins: £105 + £30 = £135 back, +£125 profit.
Compare £10 on an evens favourite that wins: +£10.
That's what I mean when I say even when our outsiders place we make more profit than an odds-on shot winning. If you like to put four Festival runners together, my lucky 15 tips page is where that lives, and the maths of the bet is on Lucky 15 explained. The marks and weights side of the handicaps gets its own page: Cheltenham Festival handicap tips.
One more point for ante-post punters: the place terms you take at the time are the ones that stand, whatever the final field size (Coral's rules say exactly that). More on that in ante-post betting explained.
Irish raiders vs British: what the numbers say
Every year the Festival is billed as Britain against Ireland, and in 2026 Ireland had the better of it. From the official results, at least 14 of the 28 winners came from Irish yards and 11 from British yards. I couldn't confirm the base of the other three trainers from the result pages, so I've left them out of both counts rather than guess.
- Willie Mullins trained 8 winners and was the Festival's leading trainer, as he was in 2024 (9 winners) and 2025 (10). Paul Townend was top jockey with 5 in 2026.
- The other Irish winners came from Henry de Bromhead (2), Gordon Elliott, Noel Meade, Joseph O'Brien and Gavin Cromwell.
- The British winners were spread around: Nicky Henderson 3, Dan Skelton 2, Jonjo and A J O'Neill 2, and one each for Venetia Williams, Kim Bailey and Mat Nicholls, Ben Pauling and Jamie Snowden.
The split showed up most in the Grade 1s. In 2026 the Turners, the Brown Advisory and the Triumph all went to Mullins-trained horses at 11/1, 11/1 and 50/1, and none of them was the BSP favourite. If you follow the Irish form through the winter, my Irish horse racing tips hub is the place to start, and the trainer numbers are on my top horse racing trainers page.
How I approach the Festival
Look, I'm essentially a statistics/maths geek. I used to be a Quantitative Researcher at a Tier 1 investment bank, and I treat Cheltenham the same way I treat any other day's racing: prices and probabilities first, hype second. The only difference in March is that the market is louder.
A few things I stick to:
- Profit, not win rate. Anyone can talk about high win rates when they tip odds-on horses all day. The tables above show Cheltenham is about the worst place to try it.
- Outsiders and each-way value in the big fields. The outsiders in my newsletter come from a new but proven system that picks out horses that have won or come close off a higher weight or mark than they're running off today. Festival handicaps, with 20-odd runners, give it plenty to work with.
- Skip the ones I'm unsure about. A short price on the biggest stage doesn't make a horse a banker. If I'm unsure about a bet, I don't have it, and you shouldn't either.
- Same stakes as any other week. I stake in points (1pt can be £5 on a £100 bank). Don't go all in on a feeling because it's the Gold Cup, and don't chase on Friday afternoon.
- Smart money and stable information. I own racehorses and when I have stable information or a smart-money move worth passing on, members get it.
And I bet on every horse I tip, Festival week included. There will be losers. Understanding that losers are a thing is the key to being a winner longer term, so trust the process.
My actual Cheltenham selections go out to Winners Club members on the morning of each day.
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Cheltenham Festival FAQs
When is the Cheltenham Festival 2027?
Tuesday 16 to Friday 19 March 2027, according to The Jockey Club. Tuesday is Champion Day, Wednesday is Ladies Day, Thursday is St Patrick's Thursday and Friday is Gold Cup Day.
How many races are there at the Cheltenham Festival?
28: seven a day over four days. In 2026, 12 of the 28 were handicaps.
How often do favourites win at the Cheltenham Festival?
In 2026, 8 of 28 Betfair SP favourites won (28.6%), against 35.0% across all UK and Irish races from October 2025 to September 2026. On industry SP the count was also eight, though not the same eight races.
When is the Paddy Power Gold Cup 2026?
Saturday 14 November 2026, the middle day of Cheltenham's November Meeting (13-15 November).
Where can I find each-way tips for Cheltenham?
The angles are on this page; the full each-way maths is on my each-way explainer. My actual selections, each-way and win, go to Winners Club members on the morning of each Festival day.
More in this guide
- Big races 2026/27: the full UK and Irish calendar
- Cheltenham Gold Cup tips 2027
- Champion Hurdle tips 2027
- Cheltenham Festival trends 2027
- Cheltenham Festival handicap tips
- Cheltenham course guide: Old Course vs New Course
I run Bolts Up Daily. I was a Quantitative Researcher at a Tier 1 Investment Bank (essentially a statistics and maths geek), and I now use those skills to analyse UK and Irish racing, profitably enough that most of your favourite bookies won't take a bet from me. Every horse I tip, I'm betting on myself, and every bet comes with a stake in points. I own racehorses too. Look, I can't guarantee every tip is going to win (anyone that can is a fraudster), but I care about profit, not strike rate.
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