'He's The Real Deal' - Latest Cheltenham Ante-Post Market Movers Cheltenham's November Meeting is in the books, three days of rain-splattered National Hunt action in the Cotswolds that brought thrills and spills aplenty. There was also some quality Irish fare from Navan on Sunday — with more to follow on Monday after the weather scuppered their card on Saturday. We're pinpointing some horses that enhanced their Cheltenham Festival claims with weekend efforts. Final Demand — Brown Advisory Novices' Chase @ 7/4 with BetMGM Alexei — Champion Hurdle @ 40/1 with bet365, William Hill L'Eau du Sud — Queen Mother Champion Chase @ 12/1 with Unibet, Ladbrokes Final Demand — Brown Advisory Novices' Chase The Willie Mullins-trained Final Demand can now be backed at no bigger than 7/4 across the board for the three-mile Brown Advisory Novices' Chase on day two of Cheltenham 2026 after an exemplary opening round of fencing at Navan on his debut over the larger obstacles. The Bryan Drew & Caroline Tisdall-owned gelding raced out in the lead, attended by Gordon Elliott's Wingmen throughout. When Paul Townend called for an effort between the final two jumps, Final Demand accelerated clear and won by 13-lengths. "It looks like he's the real deal," Mullins told the Racing Post. "There is still plenty of improvement in him. I wouldn't have had him tuned up at all for that Navan race, so we'll roll on to Christmas with him now, maybe Limerick, and then the Dublin Racing Festival and hopefully the Brown Advisory." Alexei — Champion Hurdle The Joe Tizzard-trained Alexei has positioned himself as a possible dark horse for the Champion Hurdle after turning the competitive Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham on Sunday into something of a procession. He ranges from 33/1 to 40/1 for the two-mile Championship contest and is progressing rapidly after his win at Ascot was backed up in the Greatwood where he was racing off a handicap mark of 134. Alexei, who joins a Greatwood roll of honour including Rooster Booster, Detroit City and Sizing Europe, was a multiple winner on the Flat in Germany before being snapped up by Brocade Racing to race in the silks of Garth and Anne Broom — who famously saw Native River win the Gold Cup in 2018. It was quite the weekend for the Devon yard, Alexei being a fourth winner from four runners for Tizzard, whose other two chances at the November meeting, Eldorado Allen and Triple Trade, both won. Mask Of Zorro made it five straight wins for the yard shortly after the Greatwood when scoring at Fontwell. "It's quite nice to have a horse like him, we haven't had a lot of two-mile hurdlers. It just shows we can do it on both ends of the spectrum," said the trainer. "We've had two cracking weekends with him. I'm minded that he's done that twice in a fortnight, and on slower ground this time. I haven't got a plan, my thinking was these two races and that's where we're at." L'Eau du Sud — Queen Mother Champion Chase It was a decent weekend for the Skelton team and trainer Dan will know that having a Championship horse in his armoury for the Cotswolds in March could be huge in his quest to win the trainers' championship for the first time. L'Eau du Sud could be that horse after he enhanced his Queen Mother Champion Chase credentials with a convincing success in the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham. Skelton said the professionalism shown by last season’s Grade 1-winning novice was evidence that he had turned from a boy into a man. As big as 33/1 for the Champion Chase pre-race, L'Eau du Sud now trades no bigger than 12/1 for the two-mile event on March 11th. The winning trainer admits a run at Warwick on the lead-in to Cheltenham last season gave him cause for regret, but says he will learn from that. "I'm not very proud of myself for last [season] in the Arkle, as I shouldn't have run him at Warwick before," Skelton told ITV Racing. "It took too much out for him and he wasn't at his best for the festival. "He'll go to the Tingle Creek and then, based on what I got wrong last year, it might have to be straight to the Champion Chase."
