The 2025 Cheltenham Festival delivered four days of electrifying racing and high-stakes drama. Although it is an event few racing fans missed, so much happens during the four-days it is easy to let something pass you buy. In this recap, we’ll cover all the major news and talking points from the prestigious event.
Crowd Size Underwhelms
Gold Cup-day witnessed a sell-out crowd with just under 70,000 people squeezing themselves inside the Gloucestershire racecourse but the other three days were not as well attended. Tuesday brought in 55,500 attendees, Wednesday a lowly 42,000 (the lowest single-day crowd since 1993) while Thursday saw a recovery to 53,300. Overall, these first three-day numbers represent a decline of 25% in just three years. This is despite offering customers a 20% discount when purchasing a ticket for an additional day. It remains to be seen whether this was a one-off or the start of a concerning trend.
Big Race Winners
The biggest race of the entire Festival, the Gold Cup, was won in commanding fashion by Inothewayurthinkin as he successfully fended off the challenge of two-time champion Galopin Des Champs. Sadly, the seven-year-old will not be in action at the Grand National though, despite standing as the 5/2 favourite, as Gavin Cromwell has decided to rest him.
Over in the Champion Chase, this was taken by Marine Nationale who won by a huge 18 lengths. Not much of a nail-biting spectacle as a result but a hugely impressive way to win such a sought-after title. Things were more hotly contested in the Stayers Hurdle as Bob Olinger faced a battle with the well-fancied Teahupoo. The former stayed on well though, putting an end to four consecutive runner-up finishes.
Favourites often fell short in the big races at this year’s festival but there was an exception. In the Ryanair Chase, Fact To File put in an assured display to win with a minimum amount of fuss. The final ‘big’ race we’ve not yet mentioned is the Champion Hurdle, but you can read more about that below.
Biggest Upsets
The first major upset of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival came on the first day during an astonishing edition of the Champion Hurdle. The drama began when odds-on favourite Constitution Hill fell four flights from home. State Man took a generous lead soon after this, only to then fall over the last hurdle with the race at his mercy. This allowed 25/1 shot Golden Ace to take glory with 66/1 Burdett Road trailing in second.
Wednesday saw a surprise result in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase as strong favourite Ballyburn ensured a torrid time. His troubles enabled stablemate Lecky Watson, a 20/1 outsider, to steal the show, despite being the least fancied of the four Willie Mullins runners. Mullins was also responsible for a hugely unexpected result in the Triumph Hurdle as 100/1 entry Poniros, making his hurdling debut, narrowly topped a field of 17 runners. In doing so he became just the third winner at a three-figure price since 1954.
Best Trainer
| Trainer | Wins |
|---|---|
| Willie Mullins | 10 |
| Gavin Cromwell | 2 |
| Nicky Henderson | 2 |
| Henry de Bromhead | 2 |
| 12 others | 1 each |
It is zero surprise that Mullins ended up as the leading trainer of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival. No other trainer managed more than two victories, yet Mullins finished the four-day event with a whopping 10! (plus two seconds and six thirds). He represented half of all victories from Irish trainers and this led them to a comfortable Prestbury Cup victory (20-8). This makes it six years in a row that the Irish have wound up on top, a run it is hard to see ending anytime soon.
For a racing festival taking place in Britain, you might expect British trainers to fare well but as the Prestbury Cup hiding highlights, this was not the case. Yes, Irish-trained horses did represent 55% of all festival runners but they outperformed their attendance by winning 71% of races. A mere eight winners for British trainers marked their second-lowest tally in the four-day era but will there be much improvement in 2026?
Best Jockey
| Jockey | Wins |
|---|---|
| Paul Townend | 4 |
| Mark Walsh | 4 |
| Danny Gilligan | 2 |
| Rachael Blackmore | 2 |
| Jonjo O’Neill Jr | 2 |
| 14 others | 1 each |
The race to be the festival’s leading jockey was more competitive as there were two names tied on four victories, Paul Townend and Mark Walsh. The former takes top spot though, courtesy of a single second place finish, as this is not something Walsh managed. Townend’s winners came on Kopek Des Bordes, Lossiemouth, Jasmin De Vaux and Kargese.
Problem Starting
Despite the Cheltenham Festival serving up so much racing entertainment, it was hard not to be frustrated by the state of the race starts. The first three days of action saw seven false starts and 10 jockeys receiving bans. Not only were the delays themselves not welcome but the fumbled starts meant that not all horses were given a fair shot at success. Although this likely made little difference to Maughreen’s lowly finish in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, she provided the clearest example of a horse beginning the race at a significant disadvantage.