Niall Tierney picks five horses to follow for the 2027 Cheltenham Festival Just over 350 days until next year’s Cheltenham Festival and we can’t wait! It’s important to appreciate every day as it comes, and judging by Aidan O'Brien’s comments at his media day yesterday, the master of Ballydoyle is constantly thinking about today and tomorrow - he doesn’t look back. But I suppose the roles are different when one is a young writer who is obsessed with the game. I love looking back on replays; studying form is a pastime, and it’s exciting to try to pick out horses, where they can run next, and how good they can end up. It’s an extreme passion, and I love doing it. Here are the five horses I took from the festival with an eye on next year’s Festival. Three from novice hurdles, one handicapper, and the all-important Champion Bumper. 1. Sober Glory As the 13:20 approached last Tuesday, people were quite confused at the major punt on Sober Glory before the Supreme. He was a horse that has always shown a touch of class, but never to this type of level. It looked like his credentials took a blow before Christmas when he looked lifeless, finishing 18 lengths behind Hurricane Pat. But slowly and surely since then, he has improved. He went off at 9/2, and it looked like those who started and followed the move were in for the right payday, as Ben Jones kicked for home. It looked like a big leap at the last would secure victory for Sober Glory, but a mistake cost him momentum and allowed the Nicky Henderson-trained Old Park Star to go to the front. Sober Glory finished second, but it was such a positive run and showed that he is one of the best novice hurdlers in the UK. He looks to be a serious prospect going forward, and no doubt he will be at the top table next year if they continue hurdling, or he looks like he has the scope and ability to improve over fences as well. 2. King Rasko Grey King Rasko Grey was incredibly impressive when landing the Turners Novice Hurdle for Paul Townend and Willie Mullins. In what is a difficult time for the Turley family, who lost their stable star Galopin Des Champs through injury, and it looks like he's set to be retired after a stellar career, King Rasko Grey filled the void and landed victory for them in the first race on Wednesday. He was another beneficiary of being up on the pace last week, which suited many winners, as we didn’t see many coming from the back. He jumped extremely well, and it looked like the step up in trip really suited him. He looks to be an above-average horse, and his victory at Limerick over Christmas showed that he has plenty of pace along with stamina. He has big shoes to fill with Galopin Des Champs, but he looks like he is going the right way and will be a force to be reckoned with next season. There is talk that he could stay hurdling and look at a Champion Hurdle campaign, but with his size and scope, I feel he would be better over fences. A Brown Advisory would suit him down to the ground, as he can travel for a long way and looks to have stamina in abundance. He's a hugely exciting horse going forward and looks to be a top prospect for the future. 3. The Mourne Rambler It is not often that we see flat jockeys riding at the Cheltenham Festival, but after Colin Keane guided The Mourne Rambler to success in the Champion Bumper, it could be something we see more of in the future. The Mourne Rambler was an extremely impressive winner of the Weatherbys Champion Bumper and looks to be an exciting horse for the Noel Meade yard. He was a winner on debut in a Leopardstown bumper over Christmas, where he beat Cityofblindinlites by over three and a quarter lengths. He then went on to Cheltenham, where he was again victorious under the guidance of Juddmonte retained rider Colin Keane in an extremely impressive performance. He looks to be an exciting horse going forward and could develop into a strong dual-purpose horse. The way he won the Champion Bumper was extremely impressive, he showed not only great speed but also a good level of stamina, which opens up plenty of options next year, including the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the Turners Novices' Hurdle. It was also great for owner Philly Polly to have a Festival winner after his star, Affordale Fury, was unfortunately ruled out of the Gold Cup. There is plenty to look forward to with this horse, and I think next year we will see a lot more of him in Grade 1 races over hurdles, and possibly on the flat as well. 4. Supremely West The fourth horse is one who made a mockery of his handicap mark and will be contesting graded races over hurdles in no time, Supremely West. Trained by Dan Skelton, he was incredibly impressive in one of the hardest handicaps, the Pertemps Handicap. Off a mark of 135, he was extremely well in. It also showed the brilliance of jockey Harry Skelton, who took the risk to bury this horse in the middle of the pack and roll for luck, an extremely risky move, but when it pays off, it looks inspired. It’s clear this horse will now rise in the weights, but there was enough on show to suggest he will improve further and cope with that rise. Supremely West was a bumper winner at Tramore in 2022 before moving to England, and the switch to Dan Skelton has brought out further improvement. They had plenty of success with Langer Dan, and it shows that Dan Skelton is brilliant when executing a plan. I think this horse will rise through the ranks and remain highly competitive. 5. Apolon de Charnie The final horse to follow from the Cheltenham Festival is Apolon de Charnie. He was a 50/1 winner of the Triumph Hurdle, but you can mark up his effort even more because of the circumstances surrounding the run. He was second at Auteuil in September 2025 behind the JP McManus-owned Proactif, who went off favourite for this race, finishing six lengths behind him that day. He was having his first run for his new stable and showed a great attitude throughout. Even when horses were bunching and jostling, it didn’t faze him. It was an extremely taking performance and shows that this horse could have plenty of improvement next season. The Triumph has become a race where stamina is key, so he will have many options going forward, and I’m sure Willie Mullins will keep those options close to his chest. Visually, it was very impressive, but it’s only on rewatching that you notice things went wrong during the race, he lost his position early on. Despite that, he stayed composed under a cool, confident ride by Patrick Mullins, who celebrated his first winner of the week on this horse. All things considered, with a change of stable and more experience, there should be further improvement. He looks a horse with plenty of potential, and one to be very excited about for next season.
