'Know your novice hurdles' - Which trends should I follow at Cheltenham?

The Cheltenham Festival is the most eagerly-anticipated four days in the National Hunt season and the 2026 extravaganza in the Cotswolds is just around the corner.

There are now just four weeks until the 2026 Cheltenham Festival. Punters are doing their homework and starting to focus in on the meeting as the fields become clearer and the NRNB markets are available with major bookmaking firms.

We are pinpointing some Cheltenham Festival trends you may want to look for this year.

Know your novice hurdles and their trends

There are three Grade 1 novice hurdles — the Supreme (2m), the Turners (2m5f) and the Albert Bartlett (3m) — and digging deeper into their trends will uncover interesting stats.

In 2025, Kopek Des Bordes became only the fifth winning favourite in the past 18 renewals of the curtain-raising Supreme Novices' Hurdle. Favourites and joint-favourites have been successful 13 times in the 51 runnings since 1972.

The Turners' is the most punter-friendly of the trio, with 36 of the past 38 winners having been in the top six of the betting and eight of the past 12 winners have lined up unbeaten over hurdles, while 13 of the past 17 winners have been top or second-top on official BHA ratings.

The Albert Bartlett, meanwhile, has returned 10 of the past 13 winners at double-figure odds including shock winners at 50/1, 33/1 (three times), 18/1 (twice), 16/1 and 14/1 (twice).

Gold Cup window is short

Horses typically have a limited time in which to come to Cheltenham and win the biggest prize of them all. The last horse older than nine to triumph was 10-year-old Cool Dawn in 1998. Galopin Des Champs surrendered his title to Inothewayurthinkin a year ago and history is now against the Willie Mullins-trained star becoming the first three-time winner of the Gold Cup since Best Mate (2002-2004). The Henrietta Knight-trained star was nine when he completed his hat-trick, Galopin Des Champs turned 10 on New Year's Day. Long Run is the only six-year-old winner in more than 50 years, with Mill House (1963) the last to do it before Nicky Henderson's youngster took the measure of former winners Denman and Kauto Star in 2011.

Cross Country is for the Irish

There is plenty of talk of a major British bite back in the Prestbury Cup this year. Ireland has trumped the hosts in nine of the last 10 years, with one draw in 2019. There is reason for optimism, given Willie Mullins isn't having a season as dominant as we have come to expect and Dan Skelton is pushing towards his personal-best for the Brits.

The Cross Country race isn't to everyone's liking but it is the quintessential National Hunt event in many ways, meandering around the Cheltenham infield.

Philip Hobbs, with Balthazar King (2012 and 2014), is the only British trainer to have won the race in the last two decades, with 17 of those 20 renewals going to Ireland.

It was once the doyen of Enda Bolger — the 'King of the Banks' — but now Gordon Elliott has taken over. The Cullentra handler has landed five of the last eight renewals — it would be six saving for the fact Denise Foster was in temporary care of his yard when Tiger Roll won his third Cross Country in 2021.

The Glenfarclas Cross Country Handicap Chase is a unique test, with course form a massive indicator, borne out by the fact that 13 of the past 17 winners had been placed previously over the Cross Country course at Cheltenham. Irish-based horses with C&D form are the ones to focus on.