Our racing podcast team discuss five horses on their radar for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Wed January 08, 2025 · 14h ago

With the cold snap biting hard and Saturday's racing in danger, our podcast team discuss five horses on their punting radars for the Cheltenham Festival.

Graham Cunningham – IL EST FRANCAIS

There’s a topic I’m interested in and that’s IL EST FRANCAIS and which route he takes. He’s in all the major chases at Cheltenham and I’m fascinated to see where he goes. The Gold Cup is not being mentioned, but I think it should be. He probably won’t stay as well as Galopin Des Champs, but he stays three miles extremely well, we know that from his Kauto Star Novices’ Chase win at Kempton in 2023. We know he’s a proper Grade 1 horse and we know he can make smart horses look very ordinary for a long way in good races. I do think we should consider this horse might come into the reckoning for the Gold Cup, especially if the field starts to thin out.

Racing Podcast: Time to dust off the Crystal Ball

David Johnson – GREY DAWNING

I tried to be a smart arse last year and try to find one that would run in the Ryanair, so I thought I’d do the same again! The one on the radar this time is GREY DAWNING who is obviously one of the five British entries in the Gold Cup. I don’t think it will take that much persuading for Dan Skelton to go the Ryanair route and it’s there for all to see. He’s probably 7lb or 8lb shy of Gold Cup class but that gives him a chance in a Ryanair and Skelton knows it, he did it last year with Protektorat. I can see him taking that option and if he did it makes the 14/1 and 16/1 look interesting.

Grey Dawning - will he return in triumph again?

Ben Linfoot – DJELO

I’m going to have to mention DJELO again for the Ryanair Chase as he’s the only bet I’ve had for the Cheltenham Festival at this stage. I thought he was much improved when we saw him at Huntingdon in the Peterborough Chase, I loved the way he jumped that day, obviously beating last year’s Ryanair winner Protektorat, and when you look at his Cheltenham entries there’s only one race that looks likely for him, the Ryanair, and as we’ve discussed it’s a race that always cuts up with five or six of those at the top of the betting probably not turning up. He could possibly enhance his claims in the Ascot Chase in February as well, so he could be a shortener from around 16/1.

Djelo ridden by jockey Charlie Deutsch

Billy Nash – SUPERSUNDAE

SUPERSUNDAE ran at the weekend actually and he ran a cracker behind The Yellow Clay in the Lawlor’s of Naas, finishing second. It was his first run since May so it’s entirely possible he’ll come on for it and I just thought the way the race worked out that he possibly found himself further back than ideal. Patrick Mullins probably tried to settle him early on and that may have affected the distance he was beaten, for all that he wouldn’t have won. Interestingly he has now had five runs over hurdles so he’s qualified for the handicaps and even more interestingly he’s a half-brother to the similar sounding Supasundae, who won the Coral Cup for Jessica Harrington in 2017. We'll see what mark he gets, but I’d likely be very interested if Willie Mullins sends him down the Coral Cup route.

Willie Mullins: Trains Supersundae and Final Demand

David Ord – FINAL DEMAND

You have to read between the lines with Willie Mullins, think about the way he says things and a lightbulb switched on when I heard him talking about FINAL DEMAND. This horse, at Christmas, you could tell he had loads of time for him, 17 hands, massive, staying chasing prospect. He won an egg and spoon race at Limerick but he won it easily and he could be a potential A-lister further down the line. He’s a big price for the Cheltenham novice hurdles but I think he’s quite high up the Closutton pecking order and it wouldn’t surprise me if he plays a leading role in one of the staying novice hurdles at the Festival.