Three Horses Who Can Have Championship Success at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival

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The world’s leading jumps horses are to travel to Cheltenham Racecourse in March for the Cheltenham Festival. 28 races take place across the four days at the meeting, with one Championship contest on each day.
Here is a look at three horses who look destined to win one of those major races this season.

Galopin Des Champs (Cheltenham Gold Cup)

The Cheltenham Gold Cup was won by A Plus Tard in 2022 and the defending champion is +700 in the bet on Cheltenham antepost market to repeat that victory this year. The 2022 winner faces a tougher task this time around as there are some potential stars of the future in the field.

Trainer Willie Mullins is bidding for his third victory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup this year, and he is going to have a great chance of landing his hat trick with Galopin Des Champs. The Irish horse is the +150 favorite in the Gold Cup antepost odds for the Blue Ribant contest of the meeting.

Galopin Des Champs won the Irish Gold Cup on his latest appearance on the track. He has won five of his races over fences, with his only defeat coming at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival.

Constitution Hill (Champion Hurdle)

One of the biggest stars in action on day one of the meetings this year in Constitution Hill. The unbeaten hurdler features in the Champion Hurdle where he is bidding for back-to-back wins at the meeting, as he won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2022.


Nicky Henderson’s runner ended last season as the leading novice hurdler in the campaign. Since then, he has had wins in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and Christmas Hurdle, both of which are of Grade One level.
The Champion Hurdle is set to be the six-year-old’s toughest test so far, but with the engine he has, and his previous success at Cheltenham, it is likely to be another large-margin victory for the talented hurdler.

Energumene (Queen Mother Champion Chase)

Irish chaser Energumene proved his class at the Festival in 2022 when he won the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the feature race on day two of the meeting. He finished that race strongly to score by just over eight lengths.

Mullins’ gelding followed up his Cheltenham success with victory at the Punchestown Festival a month later. He has also been victorious at Cork in the latest campaign, where he was too good for his rivals.

The defending champion will have to bounce back from defeat in the Clarence House Chase on his latest outing but expect him to be at his peak for his primary target of the campaign. In what is set to be a great race, Edwardstone and Editeur Du Gite are both set to feature too and prove the biggest challengers to last year’s winner.

All three horses are in contention to be named the jumps horse of the year at the end of the 2022/23 campaign. An impressive victory at the Cheltenham Festival will do their chances of winning that award no harm.