Cheltenham festival 2026: racism inquiry continues before day three action – live

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

3.20 STAYERS’ HURDLE, GRADE ONE, 2M 7F 213YD

A competitive renewal of the Stayers’ with plenty for the punters to weigh up as the old guard – including Teahupoo, the 2024 winner, and Bob Olinger, who beat him into second 12 months ago – take on a promising contingent of improving younger rivals. Teahupoo is the top-rated runner, despite his defeat last season, having won Grade One events on all three of his subsequent starts. He is only 6lb or so in front of the likes of Ma Shantou, Kabral Du Mathan and Honesty Policy, however, and all three have shown form to date that gives them every chance of making the minimal further progress required. The trip is a slight question mark for Kabral Du Mathan, however, while Ma Shantou’s course-and-distance form in the Cleeve Hurdle in January is a big positive, and personally I’ll be cheering on Emma Lavelle’s runner as he bids to emulate the stable’s memorable success with Paisley Park in 2019.

Key form:

G1 Stayers’ Hurdle, Cheltenham, 14 Mar 24 (Teahupoo)

G1 Stayers’ Hurdle, Cheltenham, 13 Mar 25 (Bob Olinger, Teahupoo)

G2 Relkeel Hurdle, Cheltenham, 1 Jan 26 (Kabral Du Mathan)

G2 Cleeve Hurdle, Cheltenham, 24 Jan 26 (Ma Shantou)

G1 Mersey Novice Hurdle, Aintree, 5 Apr 25 (Honesty Policy)

G1 Long Walk Hurdle, Ascot, 20 Dec 25 (Impose Toi, Honesty Policy)

G1 Christmas Hurdle, Leopardstown, 28 Dec 25 (Teahupoo, Bob Olinger, Ballyburn, Home By The Lee)

Timeform Top-Rated: Teahupoo.

Selection: Ma Shantou

“The enquiry into yesterday’s start debacle won’t be concluded until the festival is over?” asks Michael Murphy. “Horse racing is in enough trouble as it is without stringing this spat out over the full week.” That and the review into starts in general, which are causing a lot of frustration. What’s that phrase about the stable door?

And with that, I’ll hand over the reins to Niall McVeigh. Have a great afternoon and hope you back a winner or two …

BHA announce review into Cheltenham starts

Brant Dunshea, chief executive of the BHA, said: “It has been a tremendous two days of racing so far at the Festival, but we share the frustrations of jockeys, trainers and punters regarding the starts.”

The runners ands riders prepare for the start of the opening race at the Cheltenham festival. Photograph: Ashley Western/Colorsport/Shutterstock

2.40pm DAVID NICHOLSON MARES’ HURDLE preview

The first of the card’s three Grade One events and, depending on the outcome of the opening race, the potential middle leg of a short-priced treble on the day as Wodhooh, the Martin Pipe winner 12 months ago, attempts to take advantage of Lossiemouth’s diversion to the Champion Hurdle after winning this race in both 2024 and 2025. She could well set off at odds-on, and while Majborough, the first odds-on shot of the meeting, proved bitterly disappointing on Wednesday, Gordon Elliott’s mare does not have the history of occasional jumping blunders that Majborough brought to the party. Willie Mullins’s Jade De Grugy, the runner-up behind Lossiemouth 12 months ago, is her principal rival according to the betting, and reverts to the smaller obstacles for the first time this season having taken a Grade Two over fences at Thurles in January.

Key form:

G3 Kerrymount Mares’ Hurdle, Leopardstown, 29 Dec 25, 2m 4f 103yd (Wodhooh)

https://youtu.be/hrpGU14El4o?si=yAyk1ptHK6hC2d4N

G2 Mares’ Novice Chase, Thurles, 18 Jan 26, 2m 4f 198yd (Jade De Grugy)

https://youtu.be/YiufIddPHPw?si=ZQspAs4Xh2r89FZg

G1 Mares’ Hurdle, Cheltenham, 11 Mar 25, 2m 3f 200yd (Jade De Grugy)

https://youtu.be/iY0-sYhjwpA?si=z4RCkjLElE5ZxpG1

Timeform Top-Rated: Wodhooh.

Selection: WODHOOH

British fashion designer Jade Holland Cooper has her own branded umbrella! Photograph: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock

2pm JACK RICHARDS NOVICE HANDICAP CHASE preview

Just the 18 runners for the handicap that replaced the Grade One Turners Novice Chase in the festival schedule, which almost makes you hanker for the days when there were just half a dozen or so and an odds-on favourite. Almost. All bar two or three are in with some kind of a chance (and let’s not forget that we had a 66-1 winner in a handicap chase here yesterday), but Jordans Cross has emerged as the likely favourite this morning for the Anthony Honeyball stable. The five-year-old landed a similar contest at the Trials meeting here in January which has an exceptional record for highlighting future festival winners, and while he is up 6lb having won that race by just a nose, the runner-up was Quebecois, who went very close in the Ultima here on the opening day. Regents Stroll, representing the same connections as last year’s winner of this race, Caldwell Potter, is also attracting plenty of support, while the pick of the Irish-trained contingent could well be Henry de Bromhead’s Slade Steel, who many punters will remember as the winner of the Supreme Novice Hurdle two years ago. He has yet to add to that win in six subsequent starts but has been keeping excellent company and drops into handicap company for the first time here.

Selection: JORDANS CROSS

Mind the stairs! Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images/Reuters

If you think it’s breezy at Cheltenham spare a thought for those horses and staff who made the long tip to the north east as Hexham is off owing to high winds.

1.20pm DAWN RUN MARES’ NOVICE HURDLE preview

A huge field for the opener, which will add to the pressure on the starting team to get them underway with the minimum of fuss, but two standouts in terms of form in Bambino Fever and Oldschool Outlaw. The pair have met before, in a maiden hurdle at Naas back in December, when Bambino Fever, last season’s Champion Bumper winner here, was making her debut over timber at the cramped odds of 1-4, and the backers came unstuck as Gordon Elliott’s mare ran out a half-length winner. Bambino Fever then made short work of 11 rivals at odds of 1-10 in another maiden hurdle at Fairyhouse, and will be a strong favourite today to reverse earlier form with her most obvious rival. The only other runner at a single-figure price is Carrigmoornaspruce, a six-year-old that is trained by Declan Queally but, unlike I’ll Sort That in yesterday’s opener, will be ridden by James Bowen. She was five lengths behind the winner in a Grade One at Leopardstown in December but still has something to find with the favourite on ratings.

Selections: BAMBINO FEVER

The rain has arrived! Photograph: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock

The action moves to the New Course today, with the first two days having taken place on the Old Course with the going officially derscribed as Good, Good to Soft in places. It’s very breezy out there on track this morning and there is a distinct possibility of some rain later. It was dry overnight and there was selective watering overnight, with 3-5mm of moisture applied. Precipitation (2-3mm) is predicted for later with wind speeds forecast to build throughout the day, with gusts reaching 40-45mph.

Here are the horses you can put a line through as they will not be lining up:

NON-RUNNERS TODAY

2pm Jack Richards Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase
2 Sixmilebridge (Reason: unsuitable going)
15 Old Cowboy (Temperature)

3.20pm Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle
4 Gwennie May Boy (Lame)

4.00pm Ryanair Chase (Grade 1)
2 Croke Park (Bruised Foot)

5.20pm Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Amateur Jockeys’ Handicap Chase
12 Uncle Bert (Going)

Hold on to your hats! Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA

Fact To File, the headline act and hot favourite in the Ryanair Chase (4pm), is very much on the drift in the betting this morning and connections have expressed doubts about him running this afternoon owing to the drying ground. AP McCoy, who works for owner JP McManus told TalkSport this morning: “I don’t know if Fact To File is definitely running,” while McManus’s racing manager Frank Berry added: “I’m very worried about the ground, it’s up in the air at the moment.” The horse’s trainer Willie Mullins also expressed his worries while talking to Racing TV presenter Nick Luck. “He’s a good mover but the ground is lively,” said the concerned handler.

BHA investigation into alleged abuse ongoing

The stewards’ inquiry into alleged racist abuse by leading jockey Nico de Boinville, which was lodged by an Irish amateur, Declan Queally, after Wednesday’s opening race at the Cheltenham festival will not conclude until after the meeting’s final day on Friday, the British Horseracing Authority said on Thursday.

The inquiry was opened on Wednesday after Queally complained that he had been subjected to verbal abuse, some of it racist in nature, by De Boinville as a big field jostled for starting positions before the two-mile, five-furlong Turners Novice Hurdle.

Some of the verbal exchange between the two riders could be seen on ITV Racing’s live coverage. Queally subsequently told Matt Chapman, an ITV Racing reporter, as he returned to weigh in that “being abused by an English rider, Nico de Boinville, is not very nice. I’m an amateur, I’m coming over here riding in front of my kids and that, horrific.”

An initial update on the progress of the stewards’ inquiry stated that after hearing initial statements from Queally and De Boinville, it had been adjourned “to obtain further evidence”.

A BHA spokesman said on Thursday that “the process of gathering evidence will continue over the course of the coming days and will involve speaking to jockeys and reviewing broadcast footage. This process will take some time and will therefore not be concluded during the Festival.”

Preamble

Good morning from Cheltenham on day three of the 2026 Cheltenham festival, and on a day when there will be a laser-sharp focus on: a) the starts; and b) Nico de Boinville, following the allegations of racial abuse levelled against Nicky Henderson’s stable jockey by the Irish amateur, Declan Queally, after a chaotic start to the Turners Novice Hurdle, the opening race on Wednesday.

The stewards’ inquiry into the incident is expected to resume at the course this morning and there could presumably be a result well before De Boinville heads out for the first of his two rides on the card: Impose Toi in the Stayers’ Hurdle at 3.20pm (all times GMT), and the ever-popular Jonbon in the Ryanair Chase at 4pm.

Before we get that far, though, there are a couple of big fields that need to be sent on their way, with a maximum line-up of 22 in the Mares’ Novice Hurdle at 1.20pm and 19 going to post for the Jack Richards Novice Handicap Chase at 2pm.

The starts for both the Turners Novice Hurdle and the BetMGM Cup yesterday, with maximum fields of two-and-a-half mile hurdlers jostling for position, were far from satisfactory, and the fall-out included a suggestion by Max McNeill, the co-owner of the beaten favourite in the opener, No Drama This End, that “the Irish jockeys know what they are doing and they are going to make it as difficult for the class horses in the race as possible”.

There are two very obvious “class horses” in the opener today and both, as it happens, are trained in Ireland: Bambino Fever, last year’s Champion Bumper winner from the Willie Mullins stable, and Gordon Elliott’s Oldschool Outlaw. All eyes will be on them as they circle at the start as Paul Townend and Mark Walsh, their riders, try to get a decent racing position on mares that like to race up with the pace.

Elsewhere on today’s card, there are three Grade One events, although the Mares’ Hurdle is short on quality after Lossiemouth’s diversion to the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday and Wodhooh will be very hard to beat. Fact To File, the Irish Gold Cup winner, will also be short in the Ryanair Chase, but there is much more depth to the competition in the Stayers’ Hurdle, where seasoned campaigners including Teahupoo and Bob Olinger will take on several very promising up-and-comers including Ma Shantou and Dan Skelton’s Kabral Du Mathan.

You can, as ever, keep on top of all the news, views, results, betting moves and more here on the blog, from the first race at 1.20pm to the finale, the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir for amateur riders, at 5.20pm (and, if it’s anything like Wednesday, for several hours afterwards, too.