2025 Cheltenham Festival Day 1 Tips

Cheltenham Festival Day 1 Preview

The greatest show on turf kicks off for the first of four top-class days’ horse racing action at the home of jumps racing. The RacingTips team will be on hand throughout the week to offer readers their top Cheltenham tips and best bets for each day as they mark punters’ cards for every race.

The opening race of the Festival is the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and our tipsters will have Cheltenham Festival day one tips through to the closing National Hunt Chase as the premier jumps racing festival gets underway.

Cheltenham Day 1 Races 2025

Tuesday’s Cheltenham day 1 races will play host to seven top-class contests, getting underway at 1.30pm with the traditional curtain-raiser, the Grade One Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. The feature race of the afternoon sees the latest renewal of the Grade One Champion Hurdle which goes to post at 3.30pm. It is the third of four Grade One races on the opening day with the Grade One Arkle Chase and Grade One Mares’ Hurdle making up the quartet. Cheltenham day 1 races end at 5.30pm with the National Hunt Steeple Chase.

TIME	RACE	DISTANCE	PREVIEW
1:20	Supreme Novices’ Hurdle Tips	2m 1/2f	Race Preview
2:00	Arkle Chase Tips	2m	Race Preview
2:40	Ultima Handicap Chase Tips	3m 1/2f	Race Preview
3:20	Mares’ Hurdle Tips	2m 1/2f	Race Preview
4:00	Champion Hurdle Tips	2m 4f	Race Preview
4:40	Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle Tips	2m	Race Preview
5:20	National Hunt Challenge Cup Chase Tips	3m 6f	Race Preview

The famous Cheltenham roar will reverberate around the Cotswolds as the tapes go up on the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. The race often provides significant pointers towards future Festival winners including Champion Hurdle winners as well as top-class chasers. Nicky Henderson has won this with Altior, Shishkin and last year Constitution Hill who heads the betting for this year’s Champion Hurdle.

Following on from the Festival curtain raiser it is time for the first race of the Festival over fences with the Grade One Arkle Chase, won last year by leading 2025 Champion Chase contender Gaelic Warrior. The Arkle Chase is the ultimate test for two-mile chasers and previous winners include Altior, Un De Sceaux, Sprinter Sacre and Shishkin.

Competitive handicap action over fences follows with the Ultima Handicap Chase over three miles. Chianti Classico sluiced through the mud to win last year and will bid to advertise his Grand National claims with a repeat victory. The Ultima precedes the day’s feature event, the Champion Hurdle.

The Cheltenham day 1 races continue with the Mares’ Hurdle which has been a Willie Mullins benefit. The County Carlow trainer has won the race a record ten times, claiming it for the first time since 2018 courtesy of Lossiemouth.

The penultimate race on day one is the Boodles Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle which is also known as the Fred Winter Hurdle. This race has proved to be a minefield for punters with an average SP of the winner of around 25-1 over the past twelve seasons.

The marathon National Hunt Chase closes out the day over three and three-quarter miles. No onger restricted to amateur riders, it is also a handicap from 2025 onwards.

Be sure to check out our Cheltenham race tips for Tuesday as we’ll have tips for all seven Cheltenham day 1 races.

Cheltenham Tuesday Feature Race – Champion Hurdle

The runners for the feature race of the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival, the Grade One Champion Hurdle, go to post at 4pm and will attract plenty of attention from punters.

The race features a clash of the very best two mile hurdlers in Great Britain and Ireland, the first of the big four ‘Championship’ races at the Cheltenham Festival with one race each taking place on each day of the meeting.

Champion Hursle Trends to Consider

• Eight winning favourites or joint-favourites in the last 12 renewals.
• 10 of the last 12 winners of the race had already won a Grade 1
• 13 of the last 14 won by either Irish trainers or Nicky Henderson.
• The last 8 winners were all unbeaten that season.
• The last 15 winners had all won at least six NH races.

Other Races On Day One

1:20 – Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1) Cl1 (4yo+) 2m½f

The Irish look to have a very strong hand in the first race of the Festival with Facile Vega bidding to atone for a shock defeat at Leopardstown.

5 key trends to consider

• 13 of the last 14 winners were aged 5 or 6.
• 15 of the last 17 won last time out.
• 9/11 had won at least a G2 novice hurdle.
• 11 of the last 14 had run at least 4 times over hurdles.
• 19/20 had won at least 50% of all hurdle starts in UK & Ireland.

2:00 – Racing Post Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase (Grade 1) Cl1 (5yo+) 2m

Nicky Henderson and Willie Mullins go head-to-head with star novice chasers Jonbon and El Fabiolo in another exciting renewal.

5 key trends to consider

• 11/12 winners aged 6 or 7.
• 12/12 winners won last time out.
• 7 of the last 10 winners trained by either Willie Mullins or Nicky Henderson.
• 15/16 winners had raced at Cheltenham previously.
• 13/15 winners rated 151+.

2:40 – Ultima Handicap Chase (Grade 1) Cl1 (5yo+) 3m1f

The Ultima is the first Handicap race of the Festival and Corach Rambler will be looking to repeat last year’s victory off a 6lbs higher mark. This is one of the few races that have eluded the Irish in recent years.

5 key trends to consider

• 8/10 winners raced at the Festival previously.
• Just two winning favourites this century.
• 7/8 have raced at Cheltenham that season
• 8/10 winners aged 8 or younger.
• No Irish trained winner in last 16 years.

3:20 – Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle (Grade 1) Cl1 (4yo+) 2m4f

All eyes will be on defending champion Lossiemouth if Willie Mullins declares her in this contest ahead of the Champion Hurdle

5 key trends to consider

• 13/14 winners have come from top 4 in the betting.
• 7/8 favourites have lost.
• 14/14 winners have been rated 140+.
• 11/15 winners have placed in Grade 2 company.
• 9/15 winners have been trained by Willie Mullins.

4:40 – Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle (Grade 3) Cl1 (4yo) 2m 4½f

Arguably the toughest race to solve of the entire Cheltenham Festival. Will we see another big-odds winner this year?

5 key trends to consider

• 9/9 winners rated between 125-139.
• Only 1 favourite has won in past 12 years.
• 5/6 winners were in the top 12 in the betting.
• Irish trained horses have won the last five renewals.
• No winner of the race has previously raced at Cheltenham before.

5:20 – National Hunt Challenge Cup Novices’ Chase (Grade 2) Cl1 (5yo+) 3m6f

The final race on day one is restricted to amateur riders and takes place over a gruelling three and three-quarter miles.

5 key trends to consider

• 20/22 winners aged 7+.
• 10/10 winners rated 142+.
• 12/13 had contested a Graded Chase.
• 4/5 winners had 5+ Chase runs.
• No favourite has won since 2013.

Cheltenham Free Bets for Tuesday

Fancy a potential big win for little or no financial outlay? The Cheltenham Festival is a favourite with punters and there’ll be plenty of opportunities to take advantage of the many Cheltenham free bets for Tuesday and throughout the week that will be on offer from several of the leading bookmakers.

The Racing Tips team will be busy throughout the Festival not only providing punters and readers with their Cheltenham Day 1 tips but also sourcing and collating the best of the bookmakers’ Cheltenham free bets for Tuesday and through the course of the week to help hopefully win big!

Other days at Cheltenham Festival

There’s still three more days to get stuck into at Cheltenham Festival 2025. You can check out our tips for the other days here:

• Cheltenham Festival Day 2 tips
• Cheltenham Festival Day 3 tips
• Cheltenham Festival Day 4 tips