RacingBetter News
	Wednesday 11th June 2025

Cheltenham Festival 2026 Early Favourites

With over two centuries of history, the Cheltenham Festival remains the crown jewel of jumps racing. The 2025 edition saw Inothewayurthinkin claim victory in March. Even though the 2026 renewal remains a year away, bookies have already rolled out early odds for next year’s Gold Cup hopefuls.

Inothewayurthinkin

Inothewayurthinkin has the shortest odds across betting sites to take the trophy home next year as well. This Irish-bred, Irish-trained thoroughbred made his name in the jumps racing world by storming to victory in the 2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Galopin Des Champs was the clear favourite to win the race, after winning back-to-back at Cheltenham in 2023 and 2024. Inothewayurthinkin came in as a supplementary entry and was given odds of 15/2 by bookmakers to win the race.

Mark Welsh rode the bay-coloured gelding to leave Des Champs trailing in the dust by a massive six lengths. Inothewayurthinkin was also the favourite to win the Grand National and complete a historic double.

But trainer Gavin Cromwell chose to rest him instead and keep him in good shape for future races. We can hope to see the magic of Inothewayurthinkin again once the action returns to Cheltenham next year.

Galopin Des Champs

Galopin des Champs was the one to beat this year, but a superb performance from Inothewayurthinkin dashed the black gelding’s hopes of becoming only the fifth horse in history to win three consecutive Gold Cups.

Despite the Cheltenham heartbreak, bookmakers with the best betting offers are still rooting strongly for Des Champs for a win next year. The French-bred, Irish-trained thoroughbred won a hat-trick Irish Gold Cup title this year and is still in peak racing condition.

Des Champs returned to winning ways right after his second-place finish at Cheltenham. Jockey Paul Townend steered the two-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner to a commanding 22-length victory over Spillane’s Tower in the Punchestown Gold Cup in April.

Fact To File

Fact To File emerged as a strong contender to challenge Des Champs’ Gold Cup supremacy before Inothewayurthinkin stole the limelight. But Des Champs and Fact To File, both trained by Willie Mullins, did not go head-to-head in the Cheltenham Gold Cup this year.

Fact To File did conquer Cheltenham, but he participated in the chase race. There's no official word on whether he'll take on his stablemate in next year's Gold Cup, but bookmakers are backing him as a strong contender if he does.

Even though the Gold Cup would be a bigger challenge, the dominant performance in the chase race has convinced many that the JP McManus-owned gelding would be ready for the step-up a year from now.

Gaelic Warrior

We are now well into outsider territory, and the next name on our list is Gaelic Warrior. The seven-year-old bay gelding did not feature in this year’s event, but bookies are hopeful that he will be in strong form for the 2026 race.

It has been a frustrating season for Gaelic Warrior, who suffered back-to-back setbacks at Leopardstown in the Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase in December and the Dublin Chase in February.

There’s still plenty of buzz around Gaelic Warrior, thanks to his strong 2024 campaign and the illustrious duo behind him—Rich Ricci and Willie Mullins. The 2024 Arkle winner has three Grade 1 wins under his belt.

Since there is still enough preparation time for the 2026 Cheltenham Gold Cup many believe Willie Mullins, Cheltenham’s most decorated trainer, can restore Gaelic Warrior to peak form.

With four Gold Cups, five Champion Hurdles, and double wins in both the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Stayers’ Hurdle, Mullins’ Cheltenham legacy speaks for itself.