The Racing Post's Graeme Rodway has selected his finest bet for the Champion Hurdle, as well as a horse that might be a shrewd each-way alternative at a double-figure cost.
All of our markets can be found on our devoted hub, while we likewise have the most recent Cheltenham news and a range of Cheltenham promos readily available.
Check out our Cheltenham tips page for more professional opinions on this week's Festival.
Champion Hurdle Betting Tips
16:00 Cheltenham - The New Lion @ 5/2
16:00 Cheltenham - Poniros @ 12/1
16:00 Cheltenham - The New Lion @ 5/2
The Champion Hurdle has actually been on the agenda for The New Lion ever because he roamed home to land the Challow Hurdle at Newbury in December 2024 and his time has lastly shown up.
The Dan Skelton-trained seven-year-old went on to land the Turners Novices' Hurdle over 2m5f at this conference last year, when he revealed a terrible turn of foot to come from behind The Yellow Clay getting in the straight and win disappearing. That marked him down as a horse who has lots of speed.
The New Lion has been taken care of ever since, running just twice and both over 2m, a journey which looks certain to bring out the finest in him. However, not everything went right on his reappearance in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle, when he fell at the 2nd last and was beaten by last year's winner of this race, Golden Ace.
It was back to the drawing board for the Skelton group, however they constructed The New Lion back up and he showed no ill effects from that fall when again displaying his trademark turn of speed to land the International Hurdle on Trials day at this course. He came from last-to-first in a slowly run race then.
He beat Nemean Lion by just a length and a half, however is worth for a lot even more than that winning margin judging by his completing sectionals. He ran the second-from-last furlong that day in a time of 12.91 seconds, which is fast for a hurdler, and only won by a small margin due to the fact that of the sluggish pace.
A much stronger gallop in a Champion Hurdle will bring out all kinds of enhancement from The New Lion and this is his day. It's also the Skeltons' day and they can land their first Champion Hurdle.
16:00 Cheltenham - Poniros @ 12/1
If there is a horse who might distress the applecart at big chances then it's most likely last year's Triumph Hurdle winner Poniros, who has run only twice given that and is open to the most enhancement of any runner in the field. He is the youngest horse in the race and this will be just his 4th hurdle start.
Poniros won last season's Triumph on his hurdling launching, which is rather a feat, and it wasn't a weak race either. The runner-up Lulamba has actually given that gone on to win several races over fences this season.
Lulamba got his revenge on Poniros at Punchestown, by my choice still ran a cracker to complete second and he returned from the very best part of a year off the track to complete 3rd behind Brighterdaysahead at Leopardstown last month. He had a quiet ride and didn't have a hard race.
A lot more buttons will be pressed this time and Poniros has actually already shown that he is effective in a highly run race around this course. He could take an enormous action forward following his run in the Irish Champion Hurdle and may easily run into a location behind The New Lion, so is an each-way bet.
Tipster's Recent Winners
Graeme Rodway nailed two winners from 3 selections in his last column for bet365 readers and struck the layers with another double at Naas in the Racing Post on Wednesday.
View our Cheltenham Festival NAPs and Best choices on website.
Have a look at the rest of our Cheltenham Day 1 suggestions.
What is an Each Way bet in Horse Racing?
What is a Lucky 15 Bet?
How to Place a Placepot
This post was composed by a partner sports author by means of Spotlight Sports Group. All odds showed on this page were right at the time of composing and are subject to withdrawal or modification at any time.
