Road To The Cheltenham Festival Hunter Chase 2025

[Darran]

Bit late to start this thread this season, but as I have done for the last few seasons I will keep a thread for all the latest news regarding the Festival Hunter Chase. This is the one race at Cheltenham which gets little attention, but I am here to rectify that again. One of the reasons I have been slow to start the thread this season is because the betting has been slow to appear and has been a bit messy. Things have settled down a little although there are lots of horses priced up. In this first post I have covered the majority of horses that have been priced up by most of the bookies who have a market on the race.

 

Its On The Line - Looked like he was going to be well beaten on his seasonal return at Down Royal on Boxing Day, but in the end stayed on strongly to finish 2^nd behind Big Interest. I thought it was a perfectly decent start to the season and its easy to see why he should be at the head of the market at this stage. No doubt he will probably head to Naas again next as per last year.

 

Angels Dawn - Won the Kim Muir 2 years ago off a mark of 131 and that will no doubt catch a lot of peoples attention, but she will have to run to a higher mark than that to win this. She was 3^rd in last year's Thyestes off a mark of 138 and then fell in the Kim Muir when challenging at 2 out off a mark of 142. Connections have now decided to go down the point to point and hunter chase route and she won a match at 1/20 first time out. That clearly told us nothing, but she then qualified for this by winning a much more competitive Open over Christmas. She beat Ryehill by 6L who was 4^th at Punchestown last season albeit 29L behind Its On The Line. Obviously you can't be certain she is still at the top of her ability, but at least that win gave us a clue to what she is still capable off. She isn't a top class horse on the downgrade who don't win this race anymore and rather a solid handicapper who might not be on the downgrade. We know she handles course and distance and we see time and time again horses run well at Festivals year after year. I wouldn't mind seeing her again though I suspect connections might go straight to Cheltenham rather than go to Naas next month.

 

Sine Nomine - Has gone down the handicap/mares races route this season and so far yet to finish in 2 starts. Connections look likely to carry on down that route though and at this stage she would be an unlikely winner.

 

Winged Leader - Is 7/1 with Bet365 and Unibet, but I'd be amazed if he ran in the race. He is currently on a 15 race winning streak in points and I suspect that will be where he remains.

 

Big Interest - Only had 3 runs having finished 4^th on debut last February and then the following month bolted up by 30L. It was some effort to go from that straight to Down Royal on Boxing Day. It was an impressive performance as well as he pretty much made all. Given the trainer decided to take a quiet approach with Ferns Lock (same owner) I just wonder if he will go for the race, but of course things didn't work out with him so maybe he will feel that you may as well go for it. What is certain though is he isn't qualified yet and will either need to win an Open point or finish 1^st or 2^nd in a hunter chase to do so.

 

Famous Clermont - Last season it was all about Aintree with him only for it to come up testing and he didn't run. He's yet to be seen this season and I've seen nothing to suggest they will go to Cheltenham this year so likely to be Aintree again.

 

Forest Chimes - Mentioning him as Unibet have him priced up, but sadly he has passed away.

 

Ferns Lock - Looked an absolute nut case before the race last year and duly pulled up. He was then beaten at 2/7 over Easter before pulling up at Punchestown. Yet to be seen this season and impossible to back on what we saw last season.

 

Con's Roc - Only had the 4 starts the first of which saw him finish 2^nd in December 2022. Was off for 441 days when winning a 3 runner maiden and was then the only one to finish in a winner of one. His seasonal debut was at Limerick over Christmas and I thought he did it very well that day with Rocky's Howya a disappointment in 4th. Clearly open to improvement, but like Big Interest needs to get another qualifying run in.

 

Gracchus De Balme - Ex Joesph O'Brien who looked very good when winning on debut for Hannah Roach at Knightwick in November. That was a Mixed Open so that is one of his qualifying runs in, but he might be more of an Aintree horse. The trainer and Joe O'Shea have split so I'm not certain who is training him now, but I suspect he will be in Joe's name next.

 

Fairly Famous - Was being touted as a Cheltenham horse last season, but things didn't go right for him early on and he pulled up at Wetherby when a short price to beat Sine Nomine. He bounced back well though to beat Premier Magic on Cheltenham hunter chase night and ran perfectly well when 3^rd to What A Glance in the Horse & Hound Cup at Stratford. Gave Gina her 500^th winner at Horseheath on New Year's Eve when having a fairly simple task at 1/4. Could easily turn out to be the UK's leading contender.

 

Shearer - Not been seen since winning a 3 runner race at Aintree in Jun 23, but has had a leg problem since then. Paul Nicholls stated he would go hunter chasing this season and daughter Olive will ride. Cheltenham wasn't mentioned as a target though.

 

Wilitgoahead - 2^nd to Con's Roc at Limerick, but had already had 3 runs in points so hard to think he will reverse the form although he had won all 3. Set to run at Thurles on Sunday.

 

Wonderwall - Only rated 118 over fences when with the Bowens although has won both Irish points in the Autumn in good style. Those wins have qualified him for this, but on his old rules form he wouldn't be an obvious winner at this stage.

 

Fier Jaguen - Was nowhere near as good last season as he was the season before and he's never struck me as being one for this race anyway.

 

What A Glance - Had a superb end to last season winning on Cheltenham Hunter Chase night and then the Horse And Hound Cup at Stratford. Those efforts suggested a tilt at this race was worthwhile, but he was beaten by Allmankind on his seasonal return on New Years Eve at Horseheath. Suspect he will improve for that though and should be a contender.

 

Iskandar Pecos - Another massive improvement from a horse trained by Joe O'Shea (in Hannah Roach's name last season) and won 3 on the bounce including the Intermediate Final on Hutner Chase night at Cheltenham. Was beaten by Forest Chimes in the John Corbet Cup, but I don't think that was his true running and I know his trainer is confident about his chances for this race. Yet to run this season.

 

Eva's Oskar - Was set to run at Ludlow on Thursday before it was abandoned. Could turn out to be a Cheltenham contender if retaining his old ability.

 

Jeux d'Eau - Won the Lady Dudley Cup at Chaddesley Corbett last April, but then disappointed behind What A Glance at Cheltenham. Could be the race came soon enough and he really impressed me when winning a Mens Open at the same venue over Christmas when beating Premier Magic by 15L. He's only 7 and there could well be more to come.

 

Premier Magic - The 2023 winner disappointed last year and whilst he has won well since then he does look past his peak now.

 

Angels Breath - Won the opening hunter chase of the season for the Vaughan's at Taunton, but might be their Aintree runner rather than their Cheltenham runner. Could depend on how Eva's Oskar gets on.

 

Rockys Howya - Looked a really good horse in 2023 in Irish points and backed that up with a superb effort behind Premier Magic when not quite seeing it out. Sadly had to miss the 2024 season and returned by nearly beating Winged Leader in a point. He wasn't so good at Limerick though when his jumping let him down a bit. If he can bounce back from that he would be a huge player for me based on what we saw in 2023. He is set to run at Thurles on Sunday and how he gets on in that will tell us plenty if he is still up to that 2023 level.

[Paul Romain]

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