St. Patrick's Thursday

The Turners Novices' Chase occupies a unique position in the Festival race card — it bridges the gap between the Arkle (two miles) and the RSA (three miles) by offering the novice chasing championship over an intermediate two miles and three furlongs. The distance suits horses who have genuine class without necessarily possessing the extreme stamina of an RSA type.

The race was renamed in honour of the Turners sponsor and has grown in prestige to become a genuinely important championship race in its own right. Horses who excel in the Turners often have the versatility to compete over a wide range of distances in future campaigns, making identifying the Turners winner a potentially valuable ante-post exercise for the following season's big races.

Betting Approach: The Turners attracts horses who are versatile over distances from two to three miles, and the form guide requires careful reading across a range of prep races. Look for horses whose jumping is both accurate and quick — at two and a quarter miles, the race is run at a pace that makes any hesitation at a fence immediately costly.

• Horses with Grade 1 novice chase form over two to two and a half miles are best qualified
• The Flogas Novice Chase at Leopardstown is the primary Irish trial for this race
• Versatile chasers who have won over different distances during the season are the ideal profile
• Weight-for-age considerations — four and five-year-olds can have an advantage over older horses

The Pertemps Network Final is one of the most unique races of the Festival — the only race at Cheltenham that requires horses to have qualified through a series of preliminary races held at various British and Irish racecourses throughout the autumn and winter. This qualifier system means the Pertemps Final attracts horses who have been specifically campaigned with this race as their target, often giving connections a clearer picture of a horse's wellbeing and preparation than in many other Festival races.

The race is run over three miles on the Old Course and has produced winners at prices ranging from 3/1 to 50/1. It is a hotly contested handicap in which the qualification system creates a field of horses who are all relatively lightly raced heading into the Festival, potentially underestimated by ratings that do not fully reflect their current form.

Betting Approach: The Pertemps Final is a perfect each-way betting race. Horses who have qualified through their preparation races without necessarily revealing the full extent of their ability can arrive at the Festival with something in hand. Target horses who qualified with something to spare in their Pertemps qualifier and who are now running off their official rating — any improvement may be sufficient to land a big-field handicap at a generous price.

• The qualification history of each runner is highly informative — how easily did they qualify?
• Horses from the Mullins and Henderson yards who have been specifically targeted at this race have strong records
• Staying types who have posted strong form over three miles during the season are ideally suited
• Each-way at 16/1–33/1 is a proven approach in the Pertemps Final

The Ryanair Chase has grown from a relatively modest beginnings to become one of the most prestigious races of the Festival — a Grade 1 championship contest over two miles and four furlongs that attracts the best intermediate-distance chasers from both Britain and Ireland. The race occupies a fascinating niche: it is too short for the extreme stayers who head to the Gold Cup, but too long for the pure two-mile specialists who target the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

The Ryanair Chase has attracted some brilliant horses over the years, including multiple winners who have used the race as an alternative to the Gold Cup when connections felt the longer trip might be too demanding. The race has also provided a launching pad for future Gold Cup horses who use it as a Festival introduction at an appropriate trip before stepping up in distance the following year.

Betting Approach: The Ryanair market tends to be quite open, with several horses having a genuine chance. Unlike the two extreme championship distances, the Ryanair trip is not the preferred target for most of the sport's top trainers' flagship horses — meaning the winner often emerges from the second or third rank of the chasing hierarchy, potentially at a price. Each-way betting makes excellent sense in the Ryanair.

• Intermediate-distance form over two to two and a half miles is the most relevant guide
• Horses who have found the Gold Cup trip too demanding in previous seasons can rejuvenate at this distance
• The Kinloch Brae Chase at Thurles and the Ascot Chase are the key trials for this race
• Consider horses trained to peak at this exact distance rather than those stepping down from longer trips

The Stayers' Hurdle — the three-mile hurdle championship of Cheltenham Festival — is one of the great tests in jump racing, rewarding the most complete staying hurdlers in the world with the supreme three-mile championship. Run over three miles and 80 yards on the Old Course, the race requires a horse who combines genuine stamina with the jumping ability to maintain rhythm over hurdles at pace for a full three circuits.

The Stayers' Hurdle has been dominated in recent years by a succession of exceptional Irish-trained horses, most notably the legendary Big Buck's who won four consecutive renewals between 2009 and 2012, and the brilliant Paisley Park who memorably won the race in 2019. The race is heavily weighted in favour of Ireland in the modern era, and British-trained winners have become increasingly rare.

The key pathway to the Stayers' Hurdle runs through the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury, the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree (the previous season) and the Galmoy Hurdle in Ireland. The Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham has also produced several horses who returned the following year to contest the Stayers' Hurdle with distinction.

Betting Approach: The Stayers' Hurdle market is typically transparent, with the top two or three in the market genuinely representing the best-qualified horses for the race. The value lies in identifying whether the favourite is truly superior to the second and third in the market, or whether the field is more evenly matched than the betting suggests. In open renewals, the each-way returns from backing the second-favourite can be excellent.

• Three-mile hurdle form at the top level is the primary qualifier
• The Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury and Liverpool Hurdle are the key British trials
• Irish stayers prepared by Mullins and Elliott dominate the recent history of this race
• Ground preferences matter enormously — check each horse's form on soft ground specifically
• Horses who travel smoothly in mid-division before producing a sustained run home have the ideal racing style for this trip

The Paddy Power Plate Handicap Chase is one of the fastest-run and most exciting handicap races of the Festival — run at the same trip as the Ryanair Chase, it rewards chasers who combine speed over fences with the endurance to maintain it over two and a half miles in a big field. The race generates tremendous noise from the St. Patrick's Thursday crowd, who are invariably in full voice by the time the Plate runners thunder past the grandstands.

The Paddy Power sponsorship adds an Irish dimension to a race already heavily patronised by Irish-trained horses, and the pre-race atmosphere in front of the grandstands on Thursday afternoon is one of the most electric moments of the entire Festival. With a field of 20-plus runners navigating the intermediate trip at racing pace, the Plate is truly one of the Festival's standout spectacles.

Betting Approach: The Paddy Power Plate is an excellent each-way betting opportunity. Look for horses in the 12/1–25/1 range who have shown strong recent form in two to two-and-a-half-mile handicap chases and who are trained by handlers with a strong Cheltenham Festival record. Horses who ran creditably in the Ryanair or similar races at an earlier meeting in the season can be well-suited to the conditions here.

• Irish handicappers from the Mullins and Elliott stables regularly dominate this race
• Light weights combined with course form is the ideal profile
• Horses whose prep run was a creditable effort in a high-quality chase are of interest
• Look for a horse that hasn't run for 3–4 weeks before the Festival — fresh horses run well in this race

The Mares' Novices' Hurdle is a dedicated championship race for female novice hurdlers, providing an alternative pathway for mares who might not be ready to take on the best male novices in the Supreme or Ballymore. The race has grown in prestige as the quality of mares in training has improved dramatically, and it now regularly attracts Grade 1-quality horses.

The race is historically dominated by Irish-trained mares from the top yards, and the Mullins stable in particular has treated the Mares' Novices' Hurdle as a key target throughout the season, often running their best novice mares exclusively in mares' races to protect their ratings ahead of the Festival.

Betting Approach: The Mares' Novices' Hurdle often has an extremely short-priced favourite who has dominated her division throughout the season without facing open-class opposition. If the favourite is short, the each-way approach at the second and third in the market may offer better value. Look for British-trained mares who have faced and beaten strong competition in open novice races during the season.

• Mares' novice hurdle championship form at Grade 1 is the key qualifier
• Horses who have run and won in open novice hurdles carry confidence into this race
• Mullins' mares are rarely beaten off a short price — if they are odds-on, take them seriously

The Kim Muir Challenge Cup is one of the Festival's most popular and colourful races — an amateur riders' handicap chase over three miles and two furlongs that regularly attracts top-quality horses paired with experienced amateur riders, many of whom have ridden at the highest level in the sport. The race is named after Kim Muir, a well-known amateur rider who was killed in action during the Second World War.

The Kim Muir has a charming unpredictability — amateur riders, however talented, can make mistakes under pressure that professional jockeys would avoid, and this adds an additional layer of uncertainty to the betting. However, the race has also been won by horses of exceptional ability ridden by amateurs of tremendous skill, and the pre-race parade through the paddock is one of the Festival's most traditional sights.

Betting Approach: The Kim Muir is best approached as an each-way betting race with a degree of caution about very short prices, given the amateur rider factor. Horses with strong trainer confidence and proven stamina over the trip are the safest bets, while larger-priced horses who have recently won competitive three-mile-plus chases offer the best each-way value.

• Strong stamina profile over three-plus miles is essential
• Experienced amateur jockeys — particularly those with Festival experience — are a strong positive
• Irish horses from professional yards who excel with amateur riders have a strong record here
• Each-way at 10/1 or bigger is a very valid approach in the Kim Muir