2025 Cheltenham Festival: Review

This year’s Cheltenham Festival was enthralling, with all four days featuring plenty of exciting action and incredible racing. Here, we are going to take a look back at all of this year’s Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse.

The annual Cheltenham Festival is an event that horse racing fans look forward to every year, with it always providing enthralling action at one of the world’s most famous and historic racecourses – Cheltenham Racecourse. The Festival has also guaranteed some shock winners over the years, and the races in 2025 were no different.

No less than 28 races took place over the four days, with some of the most eye catching races to have taken place including the Triumph Hurdle, the Champion Hurdle, as well as the highly coveted Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup, which as always was the race with the most interest and hype surrounding it, and this year’s edition of this iconic race most certainly did not disappoint.

Ahead of the action getting underway on Day One, there was a heartfelt tribute to Jockey Michael O’Sullivan, who unfortunately passed away following a fall whilst racing at Thurles back on 6th February. The opening race of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, the Michael O’Sullivan Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, was named in his honour as a tribute to a well revered and respected Jockey.

Here, we are going to be taking a look back at all of the action from all four days of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival at the historic and iconic Cheltenham Racecourse. Remember, you can already book for the 2026 Festival with Eventmasters Corporate Hospitality so book with us so that you do not miss out on the enthralling action to come next year!

Day One – Champion Day (Tuesday 11^th March 2025)

We begin with Champion Day, which opened the action for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, with the aforementioned Michael O’Sullivan Supreme Novices Hurdle. This race was won in the end by the pre-race favourite Kopek Des Bordes, a Willie Mullins trained horse who was ridden to victory by Jockey Paul Townend ahead of the competition from the likes of runner-up William Munny (Sean Flanagan) and Romeo Coolio (Jack Kennedy) in third place.

Next up on day one was the My Pension Expert Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices Chase, where the surprise winner was Jango Baie, who won thanks to a brilliant performance from Nico de Boinville, whilst the pre-race favourite Majborough (Mark Walsh) had to settle for coming in third place, whilst Keith Donoghue’s Only By Night came home in second place overall.

Race Three on Champion Day was of course the 2025 version of the Ultima Handicap Chase. This particular race saw the pre-race favourite come out on top as the winner once again, with Myretown (ridden by Patrick Wadge) coming out on top ahead of its strong competition from the likes of The Changing Man (Brendan Powell), Malina Girl (Keith Donoghue), and Happygolucky (Jonathan Burke), who all had to settle for second, third, and fourth place finishes respectively in the end.

Race Four on the first day of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival was the latest running of the Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle, which saw the pre-race favourite win once again, with Paul Townend and Willie Mullins securing their second wins of the day with Lossiemouth. They finished ahead of runner-up Jade De Grugy (Danny Mullins) and Harry Skelton’s Take No Chances in third place overall.

Then came the Unibet Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy, which produced one of the biggest shocks of the entire 2025 Cheltenham Festival. The winner was Golden Ace, who, ridden by Jockey Lorcan Williams won at odds of 25-1, winning by a margin of nine lengths ahead of second place Burdett Road, with Winter Fog coming in third place in the end. This race also saw two of the pre-race favourites – Constitution Hill and State Man – fall and go out of contention for the win in this race.

You can view the race highlights here:

Then came the sixth and penultimate race of the opening day of the Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse with the 2025 Hallgarten And Novum Wines Juvenile Handicap Hurdle. It was won by Mark Walsh onboard Puturhandstogether, securing the win ahead of the likes of Conor Stone-Walsh’s Robbies Rock (2nd Place), Sam Twiston-Davies’ Liam Swagger (3rd Place), and David Bass’ Hot Fuss (4th Place).

The seventh and final race of Champion Day was the latest running of the Princess Royal National Hunt Challenge Cup Novices’ Handicap Chase, which was won by Ben Jones’ Haiti Couleurs, with Brendan Powell’s Rock My Way (2nd Place), Jack Kennedy’s Will Do (3rd Place), and Sean Bowen’s Resplendent Grey (4th Place) filling the other three spots in the race’s top four.

We will now move on to the second day of action – Ladies’ Day.

Day Two – Ladies’ Day (Wednesday 12^th March 2025)

Ladies’ Day began with the 2025 edition of the Tuners Novices’ Hurdle, where the pre-race favourite was Paul Townend onboard a Willie Mullins trained Final Demand. It was a third place finish in the end, with Jack Kennedy’s The Yellow Clay coming in second place, whilst it was Harry Skelton and The New Lion who won the race.

Then came the 2025 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase, with the pre-race favourite Ballyburn failing to finish within the top three. Paul Townend’s Ballyburn came home with a 5^th place finish in the end, whilst it was Sean O’Keefe’s Lecky Watson who won the race with Danny Gilligan’s Stellar Story coming in second place, whilst Jack Kennedy’s Better Days Ahead rounding off the top three with a third place finish in the end.

Race Three on Ladies’ Day was the Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle, which was won on this occasion by a Willie Mullins trained Jimmy Du Seuil, who was ridden to victory in the end by Jockey Danny Mullins. Nico de Boinville’s Impose Toi, Rachael Blackmore’s Ballyadam, and Bryan Carver’s Beat The Bat, who filled the other three spots in the race’s top four. The pre-race favourite, Harry Skelton’s Be Aware came in 8^th place.

The 2025 Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase was next as the day’s fourth race, and this time it saw the first pre-race victory secure the win on the second day, with a Gavin Cromwell trained Stumptown, ridden by Jockey Keith Donoghue managed to finish ahead of the likes of runner-up Latenightpass  (Gina Andrews), and Sean Flanagan’s Vanillier in third place.

The famous BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase then took place as race number five, and it saw pre-race favourite Jonbon, ridden by Nico de Boinville, come home in second place as the runner-up, whilst it was Sean Flanagan’s Marine Nationale who came out on top as the race’s winner on this occasion. Rachael Blackmore’s Captain Guinness had to settle for a third place finish in order to round off the race’s top three.

The penultimate race of the second day of the Festival was the 2025 Debenhams Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Challenge Cup Handicap Chase. The pre-race favourite once again missed on victory in second place, which was Harry Skelton’s Unexpected Party on this occasion, whilst it was Danny Gilligan and Jazzy Matty who came away as the winners in the end. Sean Flanagan’s Midnight It Is came in third.

Bambino Fever then came away as the winner of the seventh and final race of Ladies Day 2025 at the famous Cheltenham Racecourse, with the Jody Townend ridden horse finishing ahead of runner-up in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper, which was Sean Bowen’s Heads Up. It was Donagh Meyler’s Shuttle Diplomacy who came away from this race in third place overall.

We will now move on to St Patrick’s Thursday back on Thursday 13^th March 2025.

Day Three – St Patrick’s Thursday (Thursday 13^th March 2025)

We begin the review of the third and penultimate day of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, which was of course St Patrick’s Thursday. The race which opened the action for the day was the latest edition of the Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, which saw a Henry De Bromhead trained Air Of Entitlement who finished ahead of pre-race favourite Sixandahalf (Rachael Blackmore) who came in second place, whilst it was Ben Jones and Diva Luna who rounded off the top three positions in third place.

Up next was race two, which was the 2025 Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase, which was won by Harry Cobden onboard a Paul Nicholls trained Caldwell Potter. Darragh O’Keefe’s Anyway, Sean O’Keefe’s O’Moore Park, and James Slevin’s Nurburgring in second, third, and fourth place respectively. The pre-race favourite, Jack Kennedy’s Firefox, came in sixth in the end.

Up next was the latest running of the Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle, which saw Brian Hughes and Doddiethegreat come out on top as the winner after successfully holding off the challenge from runner-up and pre-race favourite Jeriko Du Reponet, ridden by Brian Hughes. It was Harry Skelton’s Catch Him Derry and Sean O’Keefe’s Feet Of A Dancer who settled for the remaining two spots in the race’s top four in third and fourth place respectively overall.

Race Four on St Patrick’s Thursday was the 2025 Ryanair Chase, where pre-race favourite Fact To File came away victorious after a superb performance from Jockey Mark Walsh who was onboard the Willie Mullins trained horse.

The Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle came next, with Rachael Blackmore’s Bob Olinger coming home as the winner in first place, followed by runner-up and pre-race favourite Teahupoo, who was ridden by Jockey Jack Kennedy. Mark Walsh’s The Wallpark came in third place in order to round off the top three in this race.

Then in the sixth and penultimate race, the 2025 running of the TrustATrade Plate Handicap Chase, the pre-race favourite was the winner when Jonjo O’Neill Jr’s Jagwar came out on top ahead of runner-up Thecompanysergeat (Conor Stone-Walsh), as well as Masaccio (Tom Cannon) in third and Tiernan Power Roche in fourth place with Mars Harper.

As the seventh race of the day, the 2025 version of the famous Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup Amateur Jockeys’ Handicap Chase rounded off all of the action from St Patrick’s Thursday. Barry Stone was the winning jockey on board Daily Present, just ahead of runner-up and pre-race favourite Johnnywho, ridden by Derek O’Connor. Patrick Mullins’ Sa Majeste came in third place, whilst Toby McCain-Mitchell’s Weveallbeencaught came in fourth place.

We will now move on to the fourth and final day of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, which was the much anticipated and highly prestigious Gold Cup Day at Cheltenham Racecourse.

Day Four – Gold Cup Day (Friday 14^th March 2025)

The iconic Gold Cup Day at Cheltenham on Friday 14th March 2025 began with the latest running of the JCB Triumph Hurdle, which was to have a shock result. The unexpected winner was Jonjo O’Neill Jr on board Poniros, who won on 100-1 odds, and not only this, the horse became the biggest price winner of the race in its entire history.

Even more amazing was the fact that this was a debut at the Cheltenham Festival for Poniros. The runner-up in this race was Nico de Boinville’s Lulamba, whilst the pre-race favourite East India Dock came in third place, having to settle for a position to round off the top three.

Race Two on Gold Cup Day was the 2025 William Hill County Handicap Hurdle, where the pre-race favourite Kargese, was ridden to victory by Jockey Paul Townend in what was yet another victory for acclaimed trainer Willie Mullins. Ndaawi (Jack Kennedy), Absurde (Danny Mullins), and Ethical Diamond (Patrick Mullins) came in second, third, and fourth place respectively to round off the top three.

Next was the Mrs. Paddy Power Mares’ Chase, where Dinoblue (Mark Walsh), the pre-race favourite was the winner, coming out on top ahead of the likes of Brides Hill (Keith Donoghue) in second place, with Shecouldbeanything (Danny Gilligan) coming in third place.

Then came race four of Gold Cup Day, which was the 2025 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, where the pre-race favourite The Big Westerner, ridden by Jockey Darragh O’Keefe, missed out on first place as the runner-up, with Paul Townend riding a Willie Mullins trained Jasmin De Vaux to victory in the end, whilst it was Derek Fox and Derryhassen Paddy who rounded off the top three in this race after they came in third place.

The biggest race of the day and the 2025 Cheltenham Festival itself then arrived in the form of the highly prestigious and iconic Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase. This saw an incredible race take place, with winner Inothewayurthinkin, ridden by Jockey Mark Walsh preventing a third successive victory in this race for Paul Townend’s Galopin Des Champs who ended up as the runner-up in the end. It was Darragh O’Keefe on board Gentlemansgame who came away with a third place finish in the end in order to round off the top three in this race.

You can view the highlights of the 2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup Race Here:

Race Six, the penultimate race of the day and of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival itself then arrived in the form of the latest running of the St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase. Wonderwall, ridden by Jockey Rob James finished ahead of runner-up Its On The Line (Derek O’Connor) and Willitgoahead (Jamie Lee Scallan) in third place.

Then came the final race of Gold Cup Day and of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival itself, which was the latest running of the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle.  Jockey Danny Gilligan and Wodhooh came out on top as the winners, whilst Act Of Authority (Lewis Saunders), Raglan Road (Gavin Brouder), and Taponthego (Mike O’Connor) all came in second, third, and fourth place respectively in order to round off the top four in this particular race.

All four days were enthralling at the most recent Cheltenham Festival in 2025, and all eyes are already on Cheltenham Racecourse for when this famous and always iconic Festival makes its long awaited return in March 2026, with next year’s action also taking place over four days, with races being run from Tuesday 10th March to Friday 13th March 2026.

You will not want to miss any of the action at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival, so why not book your VIP Hospitality at Cheltenham Festival with Eventmasters Corporate Hospitality.

There is no better way to watch world-class horse racing than with an Eventmasters VIP Hospitality Package. Book now to avoid disappointment!