Cheltenham Festival 2026: Best Bets for Day 3

With St Patrick's Thursday a week away, BettingLounge's racing expert Ben goes through some of his favourite bets for the day, and puts them in one place for you. So, let's just dive into NAP, his NB and a Longshot!

You can also check out all of his interests for the day, written before final declarations, so prices may have changed.

🥇 Best Bet

Cheltenham doesn't always have to be pretty; sometimes, you should just be able to enjoy a horse at the top level, and the Ryanair offers a fantastic opportunity at that.

Fact To File, if he lines up, will be one of the easiest bets in recent years, and whilst his price is slightly unattractive, you should be holding onto a profitable slip with it.

The fact that this horse could go to compete in the Gold Cup says it all. In honesty, he shouldn't line up here; he should be heading to the headline race of the festival. However, if he does turn up here, I will not be complaining. It should be a certainty.

🥈 Next Best

I feel quite strongly that Bambino Fever will win the Mares Novices' Hurdle, and with the questions about Oldschool Outlaw lately, those hopes have only gotten stronger.

She has only been beaten once over hurdles, but Willie Mullins' yard was underperforming at the time, whilst she was also not as sharp as her victor that day, Oldschool Outlaw.

I'd be pretty confident that she turns the form around in a week's time, and even if she is below Evens, it should be another nice boost to the balance, if nothing else.

👀 Longshot

Finally, my long shot of the day comes in the penultimate race, and I am going for a bit of an out-there one in the Pertemps Final. Since 2020, only one winner has been below 10/1, with three of the last five at 25/1.

So, I'm going for some Each Way value, and my pick here is Duke Silver, who comes into this race off a mark of 10-2. He has been campaigned rather heavily for this race, but I think it will actually be a benefit to him.

His last run came at the start of February, when he came 7th in testing conditions at Leopardstown, so he should fare much better over this trip on better ground.

At 25/1, he has a decent chance of a place in a big field, especially if bookmakers start to offer extra places!

Good luck with your picks, and let us know if you back any of our selections on X @BetLoungeTips!