There is no bigger week of the year in Jumps racing than the Cheltenham Festival. The meeting including 28 races, five of which are considered Championship contests.

Excitement is already building ahead of this year’s meeting, with over 300,000 racing fans expected to visit Cheltenham Racecourse across the four days in March. Here is a look at some of the Talking Points Ahead of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival.

Defending champions set to return

GALOPIN DES CHAMPS WINS THE @Boodles GOLD CUP #CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/4cfdULiS6U

— CheltenhamRacecourse (@CheltenhamRaces) March 17, 2023

All five of the last year’s Championship winners return to the Festival this year bidding to defend their crowns, including Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs. The Irish chasing star is the evens favourite in the racing odds for the feature race of the week.

One of the most popular horse racing tips for this year’s meeting is set to be Constitution Hill. He blew his rivals away in the Champion Hurdle in 2023 and the unbeaten hurdler will take some beating once again in the day one contest.

Energumene, Envoi Allen and Sire Du Berlais all face tougher tasks this year in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, Ryanair Chase and Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle respectively. Those Championship races look more competitive this time around, with fresh contenders for the top prize.

Britain vs Ireland

There is a healthy rivalry at the Cheltenham Festival between Great Britain and Ireland, particularly between the respective trainers. At the end of the week, the Prestbury Cup is handed to the team which has the most winners across the four days. It has been dominated by Ireland in recent years.

The home team will be confident of regaining that trophy on the 16th of March as they have a strong team this year, with multiple Champion Trainer Paul Nicholls, Nicky Henderson and Dan Skelton all well represented.

The friendly competition between Britain and Ireland is also reflected in the crowd at Cheltenham. Many Irish racing fans make the trip across for the four days, ensuring winners are cheered home from both of the respective teams.

New stars of the sport could be born

At all Cheltenham Festival meetings, new stars of the sport are born. There are several novices which go into this year’s meeting with the potential to be something special.

In the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Jeriko Du Reponet is an unbeaten hurdler who has looked impressive in his three starts on the track. Henderson’s hurdler passed his latest test at Newbury at the back end of 2023.

Marine Nationale – back with a bang

Six runs
Six wins
Successful chasing debut
G1 Supreme Novices' Hurdle
G1 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle@LeopardstownRC | @Michael_OSull pic.twitter.com/w7cxNwxYph

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) December 27, 2023

Last season’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner Marine Nationale is now taking on fences and he made a winning start to his chase career at Leopardstown. Many horse racing pundits believe the horse is even better at jumping the bigger obstacles so his connections will be hoping their runner can produce a big performance in the Arkle Trophy.

There is a good chance France will have a new champion this year as Theleme is set to travel across the channel for the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle. He is a huge star in France where he has won five Grade One races. He now must prove himself against the best stayers in the UK and Ireland.

All four days of the Cheltenham Festival can be watched on ITV Racing, while some tickets still remain for each of the four fixtures at the meeting.

The article Cheltenham Festival: Talking points ahead of this year’s meeting appeared first on Descrier.