Supreme Novices Hurdle on The Race Lab

Cheltenham Festival 2026 Day 1 Preview: Champion Day Tips, Picks & Analysis

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Cheltenham Festival 2026: Day 1 (Champion Day) — Full Race-by-Race Preview

Tuesday, March 10, 2026 | Cheltenham Racecourse

Champion Day. The opening day of the Cheltenham Festival sets the tone for the whole week, and 2026 promises to be one of the most compelling openers in years. Seven races, from the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle through to the National Hunt Chase, feature a cast of horses that have been building to this moment all season. Here’s our full breakdown — race by race, horse by horse.

Henderson's Supreme Factory: 61 Grade 1 Wins and Counting

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Idaho Sun’s withdrawal from Tuesday’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle grabbed the headlines this week. A Grade 1 winner ruled out with lameness four days before the Festival — rotten luck for Harry Fry and connections.

But if you’re looking at who benefits most, the answer isn’t complicated. Nicky Henderson’s Old Park Star was already 9/4 favourite. Now the path looks even cleaner. And when Henderson targets this race, the alumni list reads like a Hall of Fame.

Barry Connell's Cheltenham Numbers Are Quietly Absurd

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0000

Barry Connell trains a handful of horses on 45 acres in Kildare. He doesn’t have 250 in the yard. He doesn’t have a conveyor belt of six-figure store horses arriving each autumn. What he does have is a Cheltenham record that makes no statistical sense for an operation his size.

Since the start of the 2022-23 season, Connell has sent 56 runners to Cheltenham across all meetings. Three of those have won at the Festival itself: Marine Nationale in the 2023 Supreme (9/2), Seddon in the Plate that same week (20/1), and Marine Nationale again in last year’s Champion Chase (5/1). That’s a 5.4% win rate at the track overall, which sounds modest until you consider the calibre of races he’s targeting.