Cheltenham Festival Betting 2025: Queen Mother Champion Chase

The feature race on day two of the Cheltenham Festival, Queen Mother Champion Chase is, nowadays, worth £400,000 in prize money (36% less than the Cheltenham Gold Cup), yet has attracted a double-figure field just twice in the last ten years. Nevertheless, the two-mile chasing championship – which is actually run over fractionally short of the official minimum distance on the Old Course at Prestbury Park – has produced three winning favourites in the last ten years.

Altior, trained by Nicky Henderson, won back-to-back renewals in 2018 and 2019, during his world record 19-race winning streak, and Energumene, trained by Willie Mullins, likewise justified favouritism in 2023, but otherwise market leaders have been out of luck. That was particularly true in 2024, when El Fabiolo, also trained by Mullins, was sent off at prohibitive odds of 2/9, but was brought to a standstill by a bad mistake at the fifth fence and was pulled up shortly afterwards.

When it comes to Cheltenham betting odds, Ante-post punters interested in whether the current odds-on on favourite, Jonbon (5/6), also trained by Henderson, can take a crumb of comfort from the fact that the Clarence House Chase at Ascot – in which he comprehensively outpointed Energumene – has proved a reliable trial for the Queen Mother Champion Chase in recent years. Beyond the market leader, Gaelic Warrior (7/1), another trained by Mullins, was an impressive winner of the Arkle Challenge Trophy at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival, but has been beaten in all three starts since, while Il Est Francais (7/1), trained in France by Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm, could prove interesting over the minimum trip.

Cheltenham Festival Free Bet:  https://blog.betway.com/horse-racing/countdown-to-cheltenham-earn-over-pound100-in-free-bets-1/