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RacingBetter News |
| Monday 9th March 2026 | |
Gambling.com's Brand New ‘Festival Brain’ Predicts The Result Of Every Race
Gambling.com launches the Festival Brain and it calls Gordon Elliott for top trainer in a thriller with Willie Mullins over an action packed 4 days!
Gambling.com is proud to launch the Cheltenham Festival Brain, a first-of-its-kind, data-driven prediction tool that analyses historical trends, weighted data and up-to-the-minute sentiment to produce a predicted finishing order for all 28 races at the Cheltenham Festival.
And in its inaugural year, the Brain has delivered a blockbuster verdict: Gordon Elliott will be crowned Leading Trainer at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival, edging out the great Willie Mullins by eight winners to seven in what promises to be an unforgettable battle between Ireland's two powerhouses.
Ireland to dominate the Prestbury Cup
The Brain forecasts another commanding Irish performance in the Prestbury Cup, with 21 winners for Ireland against just 7 for Great Britain. The green wave shows no sign of receding, with Elliott and Mullins alone accounting for 15 of those Irish victories.
The Big Race Verdicts
Cheltenham Gold Cup - Gaelic Warrior
The Festival's blue riband event goes to Ireland, Mullins and the Ricci family. Gaelic Warrior ticks every major trend box and the Brain makes him a confident selection to land the Gold Cup.
Champion Hurdle - Brighterdaysahead
The Tuesday feature goes the way of Gordon Elliott's star mare. Brighterdaysahead fits the data profile superbly and the Brain expects her to kick-start Elliott's charge towards the Leading Trainer title on day one.
Queen Mother Champion Chase - L'Eau Du Sud
Dan Skelton raids Wednesday's showpiece with L'Eau Du Sud, who the Brain identifies as a standout trend fit for the two-mile championship, edging out odds on favourite Majborourgh.
Stayers' Hurdle - Teahupoo
The staying division remains in familiar hands as Teahupoo is predicted to deliver again for the Elliott team on St Patrick's Thursday.
Trainers to Watch
Dan Skelton is tipped for a big week with two winners, headlined by that Champion Chase success cementing his position as Britain's leading jumps trainer.
Joseph O'Brien is another the Brain fancies for a double, with two winners across the four days, including the opener with Talk The Talk in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle.
Fergal O'Brien is predicted to break his Cheltenham Festival duck with a first-ever winner at the meeting courtesy of Sixmilebridge in the Jack Richards Novices' Chase on Thursday, a moment that would cap years of patient progress for the popular Cotswolds-based trainer.
Nicky Henderson faces a tougher week than usual according to the data. With Constitution Hill and Sir Gino both missing the meeting, the Seven Barrows team is left with a depleted squad, and the Brain predicts just two winners for the master of seven barrows, spearheaded by the well fancied Lulamba in Tuesday's Arkle.
How the Brain Works
The Cheltenham Festival Brain analyses historical winning trends for every race at the meeting but not all trends carry equal weight. A trend that applies to 20 out of 20 previous winners counts far more heavily than one hitting 13 out of 20. Horses are ranked by their weighted trend-fit score, with tiebreakers determined by sentiment-based analysis drawing on additional data points including market position, trainer form and race-specific factors.
The result is a fully transparent, data-led predicted finishing order for all 28 races across the four days.
Explore the Full Predictions
The complete Cheltenham Festival Brain 2026 with race-by-race breakdowns, trend analysis and predicted finishing orders, is available now at https://www.gambling.com/uk/news/cheltenham-festival-brain
Article courtesy of Gambling.com
