Champion Day — Tuesday 10 March 2026
The Cheltenham Festival starts tomorrow, and Champion Day carries the weight its name implies. First race is at 13:20 GMT, last race at approximately 17:20 GMT. ITV1 and ITVX cover the card free to air, Racing TV carries additional coverage for subscribers.
Seven races. One day. But the conversation, as it almost always is on the Tuesday of Festival week, begins and ends with the Champion Hurdle.
The Champion Hurdle: £450,000 and a Field of Nine
Nine runners are declared for the Champion Hurdle, carrying £450,000 in prize money and , as always the status of being the sport’s most prestigious two-mile hurdle championship.
The complexion of this renewal shifted considerably when Sir Gino, the antepost favourite, was ruled out through injury. His absence restructured the market and opened up the race in a way that few had anticipated heading into the winter. Markets do not always reflect underlying merit accurately when a major player withdraws, that gap between price and probability is precisely where analytical work can add value.
What we are left with is a nine-runner field that presents several genuinely interesting analytical puzzles.
The Runners: What We Know
Lossiemouth (trainer: Willie Mullins)
The headline story of this Champion Hurdle is Lossiemouth, a three-time Cheltenham Festival winner and a grey mare who has been a dominant force in novice company. The step up to championship grade is the central question. Winning at the Festival three times demonstrates an affinity for the course and the atmosphere that is not universal. Whether that translates to holding her own against horses who have competed at championship level is a different matter.
Willie Mullins sends her out with clearly considered intent. His preparation of horses for this meeting is meticulous, and the decision to run suggests confidence that she is ready for the step. That confidence is worth noting without overstating.
Golden Ace — The Defending Champion
Golden Ace won last year’s Champion Hurdle, but the circumstances invite scrutiny. State Man’s blunder at the final obstacle changed the outcome of that race. Whether Golden Ace would have prevailed in a clean contest, or whether he benefited from a rival’s misfortune, is a question that only data and re-examination can address, and it is the kind of question that shapes how the market should price a defending champion.
What is clear is that he arrives as the title-holder. The number on his back carries significance, and he will be the benchmark against which every other runner is measured on Tuesday afternoon.
Brighterdaysahead (trainer: Gordon Elliott)
Gordon Elliott’s record at the Cheltenham Festival gives any runner from his stable automatic credibility at this meeting. Brighterdaysahead carries his colours in the Champion Hurdle, Elliott’s presence in a championship race is always worth factoring into analysis.
The New Lion
Bids to add a second Festival win to his record, having taken last season’s Turners Novices’ Hurdle. Progressing from novice company to championship hurdles is a well-trodden path at Cheltenham, and last season’s Festival form at the track provides genuine evidence of his ability to handle conditions. Whether the step to the very highest level is a step too far is the question.
Willie Mullins’ Supporting Cast — Poniros and Anzadam
Mullins deploys three runners in this race: Lossiemouth, Poniros, and Anzadam. The presence of two stable companions alongside his headline runner is a tactical factor worth considering. Multi-runner stables at Cheltenham create pace dynamics and market complexity that single-runner analysis tends to underestimate.
Tutti Quanti — The Supplemented Entry
Entries to major championship races cost money. The decision to supplement a horse — to pay the additional fee after the initial entry deadline, signals that connections believe the horse has a live chance. Tutti Quanti’s presence as a supplemented entry is worth acknowledging precisely because of that decision.
Alexei
One of the nine declared. Completes a field that is open enough on paper to produce a result that challenges straightforward favouritism.
The Analytical Frame
With Sir Gino absent, this Champion Hurdle has no single dominant narrative. Instead, it has competing cases:
- A proven Festival performer stepping into unfamiliar grade (Lossiemouth)
- A defending champion whose winning margin was provided partly by a rival’s misfortune (Golden Ace)
- A second-season horse with Festival form at a lower level (The New Lion)
- A powerful stable running three horses in the same championship race (Mullins with Lossiemouth, Poniros, Anzadam)
None of these narratives resolve neatly to a single answer. That is what makes this race analytically interesting, and what makes the preparation work worthwhile.
Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the Arkle Chase
Champion Day is not only the Champion Hurdle. The day’s card opens the novice divisions for hurdlers and chasers, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the Arkle Chase are both Grade 1 championship events for horses at an earlier stage of their careers.
The Supreme and Arkle fields will be the subject of dedicated daily analysis as declarations firm up. What these races share with the Champion Hurdle is the Cheltenham test itself, the hill, the undulations, the crowd, the occasion, conditions that reveal character in horses as much as they test form.
How to Watch
TV: ITV1 and ITVX (free to air), coverage starts ahead of the 13:20 GMT first race. Subscription: Racing TV for additional coverage throughout the card.
What to Take Into Tuesday
Champion Day sets the Festival’s tone. The Champion Hurdle (£450,000) is the race around which Tuesday orbits, nine declared runners, an open market following Sir Gino’s absence, and questions about class, transition, and defending champions that the race itself will answer.
The data work matters here. Use the morning to review declarations, track any market movements, and anchor your analysis in what is confirmed rather than assumed. At TradeOnSports, that is exactly what we will be doing.
We will have further daily analysis throughout the week, following the Festival through Ladies Day, St Patrick’s Thursday, and Gold Cup Day on Friday.
Information sourced from official event publications and publicly available schedules/draws. Data correct at time of writing.
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