Cheltenham Festival 2025 – Day 4 Tips and Betting Preview

The Cheltenham Festival draws to a close on Friday when the marquee race of the meeting takes place in Gloucestershire when the best chasers in the game line up for the Gold Cup, an eagerly anticipated race.

We have an odds on favourite who looks tough to oppose though and there are a couple of other hot favourites on the day too who look solid in that position. With that in mind, we will close our Cheltenham by targeting two of the handicaps.

2.00 Cheltenham: County Handicap Hurdle

The first handicap of the final day is the County with a field of just 16 & the Irish hold a strong hand with the first 4 in the market.  However, the first of my 2 selections is the first British challenger in the market in Valgrand.  His yard have a great record in the race & he looks to have been laid out of this.   That, and with ground conditions in his favour, make him a strong fancy for this.  Form-wise, he has some good form in novice hurdles here, winning first time up by 17 lengths before giving best to the excellent Potters Charm on his next run.  In two handicap runs since, he has disappointed but that’s seen his mark drop to lower than I expected based on his novice form &, with the yard bullish about his chances, he’s one I can’t leave out.

At a bigger price, I give Our Champ a good each-way shout.  It doesn’t look the strongest pace & this will suit him as he likes to dominate where he can.  He will love the ground, likes Cheltenham (1st & 3rd in two starts) & races off a workable mark.  6th on reappearance, he then won off 4lb lower despite dropping his whip at a crucial stage.  He was then 3rd in the Gerry Fielden off 1lb higher before 2 lesser runs in top company, without being disgraced, & on ground a bit soft for him.  He’s the best longshot & should give us a good run for our money at big odds.

Tips

Back Valgrand (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 10.00 William Hill (⅕ odds 1-5)

Back it here:

Back Our Champ (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 Bet365 (⅕ odds 1-5)

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5.20 Cheltenham: Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle

The final race of the week is a big field hurdle for conditional jockeys &, on reputation, Kopeck De Mee looks a banker but it’s his first time in a handicap & this setup will be different to anything he’s ever faced.  I’m going double handed in this, with the first bet being No Ordinary Joe from the Henderson yard.  He’s been winless for a while now but he has plenty of form to recommend him from a good mark.  His last win was off 4lbs lower but his best run since was in this race 2 years ago where he was a close 2nd off 1lb higher.  He also ran in the race last year & finished a creditable 7th, especially at a time when his yard was very much out of form.  He ran ok on reappearance this term but tired before finding 3 miles too far.  Last time out was a much improved run finishing a close 4th at Warwick.   Back here, I’m hoping it’s 3rd time lucky in this race at an each way price.

Raglan Road is my second bet at a big price.  He won his first handicap 12 months ago off a 7lb lower mark (albeit the Irish to British mark accounts for a portion of that) before being pulled up on heavy in a listed race.   He’s only raced once and ran a cracker to finish a closing 5th on his first start for almost 300 days.  He’s been kept fresh for this & has a good mark, albeit it is his first time racing outside of Ireland.   His yard has had a superb week with 2 winners here yesterday &, in handicaps here this week, their record reads 5-3-6-0-5, all of them going at double figure odds.   I’m hoping the yard sign off with another good run & hopefully their first handicap winner of the week.

Tips

Back No Ordinary Joe (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 12.00 Unibet (⅕ odds 1-6)

Back Raglan Road (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 Bet365 (⅕ odds 1-6)