How have the Cheltenham Festival Favourites fared so far this season?

Cheltenham Festival 2023 Update

The Cheltenham Festival, one of the most prestigious horse racing events for 2023, gets underway on Tuesday 14^th March. With preparation well underway, how have the favourites for the headline events such as the Cheltenham Champion Hurdle and the Cheltenham Gold Cup fared so far this season?

Starting with the famous and prestigious Cheltenham Gold Cup, Galopin Des Champs, became many peoples’ favourite to win the Cup in 2023 after a comfortable victory in the John Durkan Memorial Chase in December 2022, winning by a dozen lengths ahead of second placed Fakir D’oudairies.

A Plus Tard was of course the winner of the previous Gold Cup in 2022, but the defending champion missed out on victory at the Betfair Chase in November 2022, before going on to miss the Savills Chase due to an illness. Despite this, A Plus Tard is still amongst the favourites.

The 2023 Champion Hurdle is set to be as exciting as ever. This year’s favourite is Constitution Hill, who has had a stellar season to date.

Not only did the horse end Honeysuckle’s unbeaten run at Fairyhouse, Constitution Hill was also the emphatic winner at the Fighting Fifth by an extraordinary 12 lengths in November.

Energumene is seen as the outright favourite to emerge victorious from this year’s Champion Chase and is the defending champion.

This is backed up by an impressive victory at Hilly Way, the second in succession, which had followed success at Punchestown where he comfortably beat stablemate Chacun Pour Soi.

Other leading contenders for the Champion Chase include Blue Lord and Greaneteen. Blue Lord won the Clonmel Oil Chase before continuing this momentum with a victory in the Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase (Grade 1), after winning six of the seven races on the day.

As for Greaneteen, victory came in the Haldon Gold Cup, finishing just ahead of Dolos and War Lord in second and third, respectively.

As for the Paddy Power Stayer’s Hurdle, Flooring Porter is the clear favourite and what is extraordinary is that a third successive victory in this event could be secured in 2023.

Flooring Porter is most certainly not the only contender to win the hurdle. Home by the Lee has emerged as one of the leading contenders after showing some great form this season with victory secured in the Lismullen Hurdle, followed by an emphatic victory in the Christmas Hurdle.

The Cheltenham Festival is an event that is pencilled into the diaries of horse racing fans across the world, and, like with every year, the excitement and unpredictability that this sport provides means that even though every race has favourites, we could see some shock winners in any of the events this year.

As official hospitality suppliers for Cheltenham Festival appointed directly by Cheltenham Racecourse, Eventmasters are delighted to provide Cheltenham Festival hospitality packages in 2023.