Cheltenham Festival 2025: Betting Tips for Day 3

We're a week away from the Cheltenham Festival kicking off, and there is still some value to be found in the markets. So, let's take a look at each race on Day Three of the festival.

St Patrick's Thursday Betting Tips

Below, you can find Conlan's tips and insights for the seven races on Day 3 of the Cheltenham Festival. The odds were correct at the time of writing, all prices are NRNB.

Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle Tips

We start Day 3, typically known as St. Patrick’s Thursday at the festival, with a thrilling encounter in the talented female novice hurdling division. This is a relatively new race as it's only been around since 2016, where the imposing Willie Mullins won the first 5.

Since then, a different trainer has won it every year, the last three being away from Ireland. There hasn’t been an out-and-out favourite to win this race since Laurina in 2018, which gives the bigger-priced horses a big chance here.

On this occasion, I back Willie Mullins to get back to winning ways, through the services of Maughreen. With a somewhat familiar sounding name, Maughreen has relations to the beast that is Faugheen, an 11-time Grade 1 winner.

She has massively impressed in her opening two runs, winning by 5 lengths when not making the most of her jumping lto at Punchestown in January in a graduation. Out of Walk In The Park, Closutton will be hoping to have another star mare on their hands who can return the accolades of this race back to their fabled yard.

My next best bet for this race goes to the 4-year-old Galileo Dame, trained by JP O’Brien. Although every horse to ever win this race has been no younger than 5, connections will be hoping they can achieve a similar feat to last year's surprise winner Golden Ace, who ran off a lower weight than Brighterdaysahead in that event due to their age difference.

I think her youth could prove to be incredibly beneficial, having a 10lb lower weight to run off than the rest of the field. She also gave an incredible run lto behind Hello Neighbour at Leopardstown in a Grade 1, just losing out by ¾ of a length. She looks as though she would improve for the extra furlong, and I think she has a really good chance of making it into the frame for our first race of Day 3.

Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase Tips

This will be the first time this race has taken place at Cheltenham in 5 years. It is run over 2m4½f and has a whole heap of entries.

Amongst these is Springwell Bay, one of the more experienced in the field. It feels like he holds entries in nearly every race at the festival, but this one feels like the conditions are suited to boot. He has particularly good form coming into this, having three progressive runs here at Cheltenham over fences, which led up to a win in his last run out.

His trainer, Jonjo O’Neill, was recently quoted saying he believes that course form is incredibly important in the lead up to the festival, and this has come at just the right time for the O’Neill yard to strike Class 1 glory through the services of Springwell Bay.

For Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerrierio, I think that Billytherealbigred has a fantastic chance at picking up a place here. Beginning his novice chasing campaign this season, he has taken particularly well to fences, only recently falling short in a competitive Grade 3 Handicap at Newbury, finishing just over 20 lengths behind a resurgent performance from Booster Bob, who really turned on the boosters to win that race.

Previous to that, he ran behind current market favourite Jagwar at Cheltenham to a 2½ length 2nd. He will be running off a 7lb lighter weight than Jagwar, which was the case last time they came up against each other, and the experience should put him firmly in the picture if conditions are suitable for him.

Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle Tips

The Pertemps is a 3 mile Grade 3 handicap which takes place on the New Course at Cheltenham. Currently held by Paul Nicholls with Monmiral, he will be hoping to land a back-to-back success, with him holding an entry for the second year running after winning it in style this time last year.

This has happened twice since the race was put onto the New Course in 2005, with Sire Du Berlais and Buena Vista completing the double in 2019-2020 and 2010-2011 respectively.

Monmiral is currently quite a big price for a former winner, running off an additional 11lb this time around. He does hold an entry for the Stayers’ Hurdle which will undoubtedly be contributing to that, and it is likely that he could go there to take on the mighty Teahupoo and to try and reverse the form he found with Gowel Road.

If the Sir Alex Ferguson-owned horse is touted for the Pertemps, I think he has the class and the ability to pick up a place at a bare minimum, as it’s been shown before to not be an unrealistic aim to win this race in the following year.

Having not been a big race for favourites, with only two clear favourites winning it in the last 19 years, I am deliberately looking for horses that are a particularly bigger price to have a chance here.

That being said, I fancy the chances of Thomas Cooper’s D Art D Art. He previously finished 2nd, 3¼ lengths ahead of Gwennie May Boy in a Class 2 Handicap hurdle at Carlisle, who is a potential rival in this race. He was 6lb better off on that run, whereas this time he will have a 13lb advantage over the Dan Skelton-trained gelding.

Gwennie May Boy followed up that run with a game Grade 2 win at Haydock in February, franking the form and it goes to show that D Art D Art may not have quite hit his ceiling yet. On top of this, he had previously beaten Fortunedefortunata by around 9 lengths over 2m6½f, who has since gone on to win the Grand National Trial Handicap Chase at Punchestown in February. The form of this horse could certainly put him in the picture for what would be a huge Grade 3 victory for the Cooper yard.

Ryanair Chase Tips

The first Grade 1 of the day, the Ryanair is always an enthralling encounter with some of the best chasers in the game going head-to-head. The quality is so good, that market favourite Fact To File is being spoken about by most as one that should’ve been aimed for the Gold Cup on the final day.

This won’t be his first rodeo at the festival, finishing 2nd in the Champion Bumper in his debut season in 2023, and subsequently following it up with an emphatic Grade 1 Novice victory in the Brown Advisory Chase last year.

Since then, he has had a couple of excusable performances over distances that may not be his strong suit, both being behind the indomitable Galopin Des Champs, so I’m more than happy to look past these defeats.

He is a three-time Grade 1 winning chaser, and I am more than confident he will be able to add the fourth to his collection in this race. My only concern, having been confirmed recently to be going for this race rather than the Gold Cup, is Il Est Francais.

He is an incredibly talented and keen horse from France who absolutely loves to set the pace ahead of the rest of the field, which he demonstrated almost effortlessly on Boxing Day at Kempton in the Kauto Star Novices Chase in 2023, where he flew away from his competition and won in scintillating style.

He has had some patchy runs since then, particularly in France, and he was unfortunate not to take home the King George at Kempton most recently, where the Ronnie Bartlett-owned Banbridge headed him just before the end.

He has the potential to take off in front and stay there for the remainder of the race, given he jumps as well as he usually does. This is a problem that Mark Walsh (presumably) will need to remain astutely aware of on Fact To File, but the inconsistencies are there to be exploited.

Stayers’ Hurdle Tips

We’re treated to another Grade 1 after what I imagine will be a tantalising Ryanair Chase, in the form of the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle. This race is a personal favourite of mine as a lot of the horses that tend to run in it or have done in the past hold a special place in my heart, with Dashel Drasher and Paisley Park springing to mind.

Teahupoo is currently the clear market favourite for this one, and this is for good reason. The staying hurdlers division isn’t the strongest, yet the Robcour-owned gelding is a complete class above, in my humble opinion.

He vehemently dismissed a number of quality stayers in this race last year and bids to do so again this time around. The only real chink in the armour I see for Teahupoo is the going, as he is a bit of a mud lark.

The going at Cheltenham is currently being classified as soft, good to soft in places (as of Thursday 6th March) and will be expecting plenty of watering before the festival kicks off on Tuesday afternoon. He has never won in any going that has been better than soft with a record of 469 to show for it.

In the potential event that the ground isn’t quite to Teahupoo’s standards, my next best bet for this race would be the Willie Mullins-trained Mystical Power. This selection may come as a surprise due to the recent performances he has put in, and the fact he doesn’t have any experience over this sort of trip.

However, he has had a tough start to the National Hunt season after some impressive displays last season, including an incredibly unlucky 2nd in the Supreme at last year's festival, and two Grade 1 Novice victories since.

Mullins has recently been quoted as saying that he thinks Mystical Power has both the stamina and the class to suit this race, and at 20/1, I’m finding it hard not to be convinced by him.

I’m also just going to mention Langer Dan just so I can say that I mentioned him, in the inevitable reality where he wins this with ease…

Plate Handicap Chase Tips

The last graded race of the day, the TrustATrader Plate Handicap Chase is a Grade 3 Handicap which takes place over 2m4½f. This is a race built for horses who like to take the initiative and get ahead of the pack.

Course form seems to play a large part in this race, which last year's winner Shakem Up’arry proved under the formidable Ben Jones, winning his previous run which was a Grade 3 at Cheltenham.

In the last 10 years, a different trainer has won this race every year, which gives me all the confidence that Paul Nicholls could find his first victory in this competition with Ginny’s Destiny. A horse that has seen a slight drop in confidence and consequently her performances since stepping up out of Novice company, he could be entering this running off a tasty mark of 149.

The gelding clearly has plenty of quality which was shown particularly in his Graded Novice runs at Cheltenham last season, finishing 2nd in races over ½f less the distance of this one, behind talented chasers Il Etait Temps and Grey Dawning. While lots of racing novelists seem to have given up on him, I think this is the perfect chance for him to prove the doubters wrong.

With Irish trainers overseeing a resurgence in this race over the last few years, one I suspect will think his entry will have a good chance at bringing the Plate home to the Emerald Isle is John C McConnell with Moon D’Orange.

The gelding has noticeably progressive figures in his scorecard since making the switch to fences in October of last year, and finding his first win over them in his first run outside of Novice company at Cheltenham in late January, winning over C&D. The course experience will be crucial here and I can see him only improving further for his recent victory.

Kim Muir Challenge Cup Tips

This race draws St. Patrick’s Thursday to a close, with a staying 3m2f Class 2 Handicap Chase. The rides in this one are taken by conditional jockeys, with Derek O’Connor causing a slight tip in the market on Wednesday with the admission that he will be taking the ride on Johnnywho, who’s now been slashed into market favouritism.

This is his debut season over fences, which started with a classy performance in a Class 3 at Carlisle back in October, followed by three Grade 2 Novice chases where he failed to continue his early form.

It could be safe to say that he will be the classiest character in the field on the day, with an excellent conditional jockey on board who always turns up when the Festival rolls around, having a 50% strike rate at Cheltenham and a 60% hit rate when riding in the JP McManus green and gold in the last 12 months.

I think he is a worthy favourite and will end up going off at a much shorter price on the day, taking the upped distance in his stride.

Gericault Roque is one I believe has a big chance as an outsider. After having just over 2 years out, he returned in a Class 3 Novice Chase lto at Windsor, finished 3rd over 3 miles. There didn’t seem to be much intent to get him up with the front two in this race, which has seen his mark reduced to 131 from 133.

Before his big break, he was running well in graded company in big fields over strong staying distances. He currently holds entries in the National Hunt Challenge Cup on Day 1 of the Festival, as well as this race, where I think this will play more to his current strengths off the back of only his first race back from such a big absence.

As a gift from me, to you, the reader, I have also picked out a third potential horse in this race. At a bit of a shorter price, Midnight Our Fred has caught my eye in his recent performances and beyond.

He finished 2nd 3 times in a row on this course between October 2023 and April 2024 in big fields, and has since put in further strong performances, particularly in the huge 27-runner field at Leopardstown in December. Although at a career high mark, J P Flavin will be hoping to make it a 3rd win in a row for the Irish in the last three years of this race.