2025 Cheltenham Festival: New Order of Running

Excitement and anticipation are building rapidly, and a new running order has been revealed for the 2025 renewal of this prestigious event at Cheltenham Racecourse.

The Cheltenham Festival has been amongst the most enthralling and prestigious race meetings in the world of horse racing, and all eyes are already on Cheltenham Racecourse for the Festival’s 2025 return on Tuesday 11th March.

Enthralling racing then takes place over the course of the four days, with the action coming to a close with Cheltenham Gold Cup Day on Friday 14th March 2025. This is the day that brings with it the most excitement on an annual basis, with the famous and historic Cheltenham Gold Cup, taking place on the final day of the Cheltenham Festival each year.

Galopin Des Champs, ridden by Paul Townend and trained by Willie Mullins, were the most recent winners of the Gold Cup at Cheltenham in 2024 with the pre-race favourite fending off competition from the likes of runner-up Gerri Colombe and Corach Rambler in third place.

This was a second consecutive win in this race for horse, jockey, and trainer, with Galopin Des Champs having also come out on top the year before in 2023. Paul Townend is the jockey with the most wins in this race to date with four, doing so with Al Boum Photo in 2019 & 2020, and then with Galopin Des Champs in 2023 and 2024.

Willie Mullins is only one behind Tom Dreaper, who is the trainer with the most Cheltenham Gold Cup wins with 5 in total with Prince Regent (1946), Arkle (1964, 1965 & 1966), and Fort Leney (1968).

Mullins is though the only trainer to have on this race more than once with two or more horses as of the time of writing.

A new order of running has recently been revealed for the upcoming 2025 Cheltenham Festival, where as ever the 13:20 Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle will be the traditional curtain raiser for the action to come.

The most recent winner of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle was crowned back in March 2024, with Rachael Blackmore’s Slade Steel coming out on top ahead of Mark Walsh’s Mystical Power in second place, and Jack Kennedy’s Firefox in third.

Below, we take you through the new confirmed order of running for the next Cheltenham Festival in March 2025. The first two days will have races taking place on the Old Course, whilst the remainder of the races on Thursday and Friday take place on the New Course.

Cheltenham Champion Day (Tuesday 11th March) – Day One

• Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (13:20) – £150,000
• My Pension Expert Arkle Novices’ Chase (14:00) – £200,000
• Ultima Handicap Chase (14:40) – £150,000
• Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle (15:20) – £120,000
• Unibet Champion Hurdle (16:00) – £450,000
• Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle (16:40) – £80,000
• National Hunt Chase (17:20) – £100,000

Cheltenham Ladies Day (Wednesday 12th March) – Day Two

• Turners Novices’ Hurdle (13:20) – £150,000
• Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase (14:00) – £200,000
• Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle (14:40) – £100,000
• Glenfarclas Cross Country Limited Handicap Chase (15:20) – £75,000
• BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase (16:00) – £400,000
• Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Chase (16:40) – £150,000
• Weatherbys Champion Bumper (17:20) – £80,000

Cheltenham St. Patrick’s Thursday (Thursday 13th March) – Day Three

• Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle (13:20).- £105,000
• Jack Richards Novices’ Handicap (14:00) – £125,000
• Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle (14:40) – £100,000
• Ryanair Chase (15:20) – £375,000
• Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle (16:00) – £325,000
• Trustatrader Plate (16:40) – £150,000
• Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Handicap Chase (17:20) – £75,000

Cheltenham Gold Cup Day (Friday 14th March) – Day Four

• JCB Triumph Hurdle (13:20) – £150,000
• William Hill County Handicap Hurdle (14:00) – £100,000
• Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase (14:40) – £120,000
• Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle (15:20) – £150,000
• Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup (16:00) – £625,000
• St James Place Festival Hunter Chase (16:40) – £50,000
• Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle (17:20) – £75,000

The hype and anticipation for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival is building, with horse racing fans across the globe looking forward to the return of this highly prestigious event to Cheltenham Racecourse next year. The action will take place over four days, from Tuesday 11th March to Friday 14th March 2025.

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