Champion Hurdle Betting Preview – Cheltenham Day 1 Tips (2025)

The Champion Hurdle is the feature race on Day 1 of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival and 7 runners have been declared for one of the biggest horse racing betting heats of the season.

We’ve known the early entries for the Champion Hurdle for some time now but decisions have been made and all eyes will be on Prestbury Park on Tuesday afternoon.

Here, we look at some of the leading players in the Cheltenham odds for this year’s race, with a Champion Hurdle selection ahead of the 2025 renewal.

All eyes will be on CONSTITUTION HILL as he bids to reclaim his Champion Hurdle crown after missing last year’s Festival through injury.

Nicky Henderson’s stable star is unbeaten in 10 starts under rules, winning eight Grade 1s and sweeping his rivals aside. If he turns up in the same vein of form as when he won the race in 2023, he’ll be very difficult to beat.

However, there will be lots of support for the Gordon Elliott-trained Brighterdaysahead and she is a fascinating runner in what is likely to be a proper end-to-end championship race.

Owned by Gigginstown House Stud, Brighterdaysahead is a progressive sort and she’ll receive 7lbs from the geldings – and mares have an excellent record in recent Champion Hurdles.

Her victory over State Man at Christmas was nothing short of sensational and plenty of punters will fancy the Irish raider to give her trainer a first Champion Hurdle success. Write her off at your peril.

Willie Mullins has put cheekpieces on 11-time Grade 1 winner State Man and that would concern me if I was a backer. A stalwart of the Closutton yard over the years, he’s the defending champion but this is a much stronger renewal and he seems to be regressing.

Golden Ace came out on top against Brighterdaysahead in last year’s Mares Novices Hurdle but she’s yet to show that level of form this campaign.

Connections made a late call to switch this daughter of Golden Horn to the Champion Hurdle and the race will surely be run to suit. However, will she be good enough? The betting suggests she’ll fall short.

Of the others, you’ve got two pace angles in Burdett Road and King Of Kingsfield. The former will ensure a decent gallop while the latter is in to serve as a pacemaker for Brighterdaysahead.

The setup of the race is fascinating and we could see a career-best performance from one of the market principles if everything goes to plan.

The Irish will look to get Nicky Henderson’s runner beat but he is 12lbs superior to the mare on official ratings and he could run to a mark of 180 given likely conditions. It all boils down to if he’s back in rude health and I believe he is.

Constitution Hill is a short price but he’s a short price for a reason and I’d be shocked to see him beat on Tuesday afternoon. Fingers crossed the big guns turn up and run to form and we’ll be in for a real treat.

SELECTION: CONSTITUTION HILL