The new Cheltenham season gets underway this weekend with the Showcase meeting in its traditional home at the end of October.
Tomorrow we race at Cheltenham 👌
Grab a ticket for Friday or Saturday 👉 https://t.co/iHcZOsCLda pic.twitter.com/qi2AJWMBuE
— CheltenhamRacecourse (@CheltenhamRaces) October 23, 2025
Not the biggest meeting of the year at this course, and a prelude to the valuable November meeting we have on the horizon, but there’s still plenty of excellent racing on show, and many contenders to look out for.
Day One – Friday, October 24
Kicking us off on day one of the Showcase Meeting, we have a seven-race card on Friday, and for those not attending, the first five of those races are all to be shown live on ITV.
Some incredibly competitive handicaps bookend the fixture, but races in the middle are a little easier to solve.
Beginning with the novice chase at 1:50 pm, the first thing to note is that all of these have experience over the bigger obstacles, which is rare for a novice chase in October.
Catching the eye is King of Kingsfield for Gordon Elliott, a man who often sends plenty of runners to the early Cheltenham meetings. He’s got an 8lb penalty on his back for a graded win, but has four chase starts, winning three of them.
Fifth in the Champion Hurdle at the 2025 festival, he’s been here and done it before, and his race fitness and jumping experience could make up for his task at the weights here.
In the 3:35 pm, right at the bottom of the weights and out of the handicap slightly, Traprain Law is a very interesting runner for Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore.
It’s a long way to come for the Scottish raider, and I’m sure this has been a plan for some time, so expect him to come on for his second-place finish at Kelso earlier this month.
He was 7th in the Grand Annual at the Festival in March. He’s now 5lb lower in the handicap, and this is nowhere near as good as that race. It all points towards a big run.
Finally, for the opening day, a horse to mention in the closing 4:45 pm contest, and that is Ideal Des Bordes from the Nicky Henderson yard.
A big field, 18-runner amateur riders long distance chase would not be my first port of call for finding a race to bet in, but you can’t ignore the positive bulletin that Henderson gave this horse in a recent stable tour.
In both May 2025 and January 2025, he ran after a break and won, which is a positive for his time off here, and Henderson described him as a horse capable of ‘a lot better than we’ve seen so far’, telling for a horse who still doesn’t have many miles on the clock.
Day One Selections
- 1:15 pm – East India Express (EW)
- 1:50 pm – King Of Kingsfield
- 2:25 pm – Diamond Tipp (EW)
- 3:00 pm – Fortune De Mer
- 3:35 pm – Traprain Law (EW)
- 4:10 pm – Don Virginia
- 4:45pm – Ideal Des Bordes (EW)
Day Two – Saturday, October 25
Another seven-race card awaits on Saturday of the Showcase Meeting, and there’s the first six of those live on ITV, with just the closing bumper left out.
Kicking off day two, it’s another Russel/Scudamore horse I like at what should be an each-way price in the opening race at 1:10 pm. That horse is Inox Allen.
He’s only run twice over fences, but he’s built like a chaser, so I fully expect him to do more over the bigger obstacles. He was really impressive when landing a race at Perth last spring to round off the season.
That was off 11lb lower, but his chase mark is still only 5lb higher than his hurdles mark now, and as I’ve said, I think he will be a much better chaser, which still should make him competitive here.
In the 2:20 pm, Hyland was last seen when pulling up in the Grand National, and was unlikely to see out that distance, so it came as no surprise.
But before that, he had a great season, winning two races here and finishing second in two competitive races elsewhere. Returning on a similar mark, he should be competitive in all the top handicap chases this season. If he’s fully tuned up and ready to go, I can see him running a good race.
In the 3:30 pm, Give It To Me Oj looks to have been found an excellent season starting point, and should prove too good for his rivals in the Masterson Hurdle, which to be honest, has a disappointing turnout given the money on offer.
Finally, one interesting runner in the novice chase at 4:05 pm, and that’s Welcome to Cartries for Paul Nicholls.
He’s clearly had troubles off the track, but has been seen twice over fences, and Nicholls decided to put him into Grade Two company for his debut, followed by Grade One company for his second start.
Nicholls is no mug and wouldn’t do that if he didn’t think the horse was up to it. Getting weight from most others in the race, he’s definitely worth keeping an eye on beforehand and in the betting.
Day Two Selections
- 1:10 pm – Inox Allen (EW)
- 1:45pm – Pour Les Filles
- 2:20 pm – Hyland (EW)
- 2:55 pm – Gowel Road (EW)
- 3:30 pm – Give It To Oj
- 4:05 pm – Welcome to Cartries
- 4:40 pm – Chicker