With last week's action fresh in the mind, our team put forward their best ante-post bet for next year's Cheltenham Festival.
Fact To File – Cheltenham Gold Cup (6/1)
Fact To File produced one of the most scintillating performances at this year's Cheltenham Festival in the Ryanair Chase, producing an impeccable round of jumping and powering clear of his rivals on the run-in before being eased close home.
The timefigure he recorded was also excellent, and he is now two from two over fences at the Festival having won the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase in 2024 in similarly impressive fashion (he also finished runner-up in the Champion Bumper in 2023).
Fact To File clearly likes the demands of Cheltenham and you would imagine connections will want to have a crack at the big one next season. The longer trip of the Gold Cup shouldn’t be a problem given the way he won the Brown Advisory over an extended three miles and his record at the Festival makes him a most interesting proposition. Andrew Asquith
Windbeneathmywings – Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (40/1)
Bambino Fever got the job done quite nicely in the end, but I came away from last week’s Weatherbys Champion Bumper thinking of absent friends – and more specifically, the David Pipe-trained Windbeneathmywings.
Ruled out of the Festival after a cruelly-timed training setback, David Pipe’s chestnut was a big loss to the race and it’s fascinating to think how he’d have got on. The form book tells us he might well have had a major part to play, the eventual length and a half runner-up Heads Up having been kicked into touch (10 lengths-plus) by Windbeneathmywings at Listowel back in September.
ittedly, things can change significantly in that sort of timeframe, but Pipe’s recruit had clearly improved too based on his Ascot rout in December, and I hope they can keep him sound next season as he remains a fascinating prospect.
With Bambino Fever just about favourite for the 2026 Supreme, chances are the 40/1 about Windbeneathmywings is way too big and a hurdling debut success in the autumn would inevitably prompt a massive shake-up in the market. Matt Brocklebank
Derryhassen Paddy – Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase (33/1)
Lucinda Russell is as good a trainer of staying chasers as there is in Britain and no stranger to success with such types at the Festival either, as novice Myretown proved once again in the Ultima last week.
Another typical chasing type for the yard is Derryhassen Paddy who has improved with each of his runs over hurdles and progressed again to finish third in the Albert Bartlett behind Jasmin de Vaux after the exertions of being up with the pace for most of the way told in the end (replay below).
A strong sort who has already won an Irish point, he makes more appeal on looks than the winner as a future chaser and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him earn his place in next season’s Brown Advisory. John Ingles
Jonbon - Champion Chase (10/1)
A rare jumping lapse cost Jonbon his best chance of securing that elusive Cheltenham Festival success but, having been 5/6 favourite last Wednesday, it's surprising that he's as big as 10/1 for next season's Champion Chase. After all, Jonbon, a winner of 17 of his 21 starts under Rules, has proven time and time again that he's a top-class chaser and his Timeform rating of 175, earned courtesy of his emphatic Clarence House Chase success in January, is 8 lb higher than the figure Marine Nationale achieved in the Champion Chase.
Jonbon has been better than ever this season and, while he'll be ten next year, I'd be surprised if he declined to the extent that he wasn't still a major player in the division. Of course, one of the young pretenders, such as Sir Gino or Majborough, could take the step up, but there are risks attached with those as Sir Gino needs to come back from a serious infection, while Majborough has been considered more of a staying type by connections so could have options over longer trips. Tony McFadden
More from Sporting Life
Safer gambling
We are committed in our of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
