2025 Cheltenham Festival Day 3 Tips

We enter the third day of the Festival and the line-up of Cheltenham day 3 races promises to be another fantastic afternoon of top class sport. There are three Grade One contests on the card including the Ryanair Chase and the Stayers’ Hurdle. As with opening two days of the Festival, our expert tipsters will bring readers and punters their Cheltenham Festival day 3 tips for all seven races on the card.

Cheltenham Day 3 Races 2025

The line-up for Cheltenham day 3 races sees seven top quality National Hunt races starting at 1.30pm with the Turners Novices’ Chase and closing at 5.30pm with the day three finale, the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Handicap Chase.

TIME	RACE	DISTANCE
13:20	Mares’ Novice Hurdle Tips	2m 5f
14:00	Jack Richards Novices’ Handicap Chase Tips	3m Hurdle
14:40	Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle Tips	2m 5f
15:20	Ryanair Chase Tips	3m
16:00	Stayers’ Hurdle Tips	2m 5f
16:40	TrustATrader Plate Tips	2m 2f
17:20	Kim Muir Chase Tips	3m 1 1/2f

For the third day in a row the famous Cheltenham roar will send the runners on their way as the horses set out for the opening Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, which opens the card for the first time in 2025. The reintroduced Jack Richards Novices’ Handicap Chase follows having last been run in 2020.

Competitive handicap action follows with the Pertemps Network Final in which Hughie Morrison ended a run of six consecutive Irish victories last year. Our attentions will then turn to the two feature races on the card, the Grade One Ryanair Chase and Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle.

The penultimate contest is the TrustATrader Plate which is always a competitive affair, while amateur riders take centre-stage in the finale, the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Steeple Chase which is often run at a furious pace.

Our expert tipsters will have their Cheltenham Festival day 3 tips through the card for all seven races.

Cheltenham Thursday Feature Races

The feature races across all four days of the Cheltenham Festival bring together the very best horses over a wide range of distances and disciplines. The Champion Hurdle and Queen Mother Champion Chase are the focal point of many peoples’ Cheltenham tips on Tuesday and Wednesday.

There are two feature races for the best Cheltenham tips on Thursday with the Ryanair Chase and Stayers’ Hurdle. They are the stand-out events amongst the Cheltenham day 3 races and opinion remains divided which of the pair is the dominant race of the day.

14:50 Ryanair Chase – (Grade 1) Cl1 (5yo+) 2m5f

Open to horses aged five and over, the Ryanair Chase is designed to accommodate horses who fall between the two stools of the Gold Cup and Queen Mother Champion Chase. Some top steeplechasers lack the speed for the two miles of the Champion Chase and do not possess enough stamina for the three and a quarter miles of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. At two miles and five furlongs, this race provides them with the ideal opportunity for Grade 1 glory at the Cheltenham Festival.

Introduced in 2005, the Ryanair Chase soon became established as one of the highlights of the Cheltenham Festival. Irish Trainers did not win the Ryanair until Vautour in 2016, the first of five victories in seven years for Willie Mullins. 2009 winner Imperial Commander went on to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup the following year while Frodon (2019) won the King George VI Chase in 2020.

Allaho (2020 and 2021) became only the second horse to win the race twice after Jonjo O’Neill’s Albertas Run, successful in 2010 and 2011.

5 key trends to consider

• 10/10 winners either ‘made all’ or ‘tracked leaders’.
• 13/13 winners rated 161+.
• 10/10 winners aged 7-9.
• 10/10 winners were French-bred.
• 6/8 winners were Irish trained.

15:30 Stayers’ Hurdle – (Grade 1) Cl1 (4yo+) 3m

Previously known as the World Hurdle, the Stayers’ Hurdle is the Championship race for three-mile hurdlers in the Cheltenham day 3 races line-up.

The Stayers’ Hurdle is open to horses aged four and upwards and famous names on the roll of honour include four-time champion Big Buck’s and triple-winner Inglis Drever. France also tasted success here with dual-champion Baracouda.

5 key trends to consider

• 20/20 winners had previously won a Grade 2 race.
• 12/13 winners had run at least once at Cheltenham before.
• 8/9 winners aged 6-7.
• 17/19 winners finished first or second last time out.
• 7/9 winners were second season hurdlers.

Cheltenham Free Bets For Thursday

When it comes to Cheltenham free bets for Thursday our team will be busy collecting and collating all the unmissable bookmaker free bets and betting offers. New customers can claim a Unibet £40 money back bonus by staking a minimum £10 on the Cheltenham Festival. The bonus bets must be placed within 7 days and full details are on the website.

Our experts will also be providing all their Cheltenham race tips for Thursday to hopefully help punters turn a profit by taking advantage of the many concessions that will be on offer on the day.

Other days at Cheltenham Festival

Why not check out our tips for the other days at Cheltenham Festival 2025? You can see each days tips here:

• Cheltenham Festival Day 1 tips
• Cheltenham Festival Day 2 tips
• Cheltenham Festival Day 4 tips