Day two’s final card is confirmed, and we are highlighting four more Cheltenham Festival tips ranging right up to 20/1. The Champion Chase tops the bill, and it holds the best of our Wednesday Cheltenham Festival betting tips at 5/1.
Cheltenham Day Two Tips – Finally Time for Il Etait Temps
Having walked the course, trainer Nicky Henderson isn’t convinced the festival is starting on good to soft ground. It could be a lively surface out there, with speed at a premium – something we’ve factored into our latest Cheltenham Festival predictions.
With markets looking ultra-competitive, Betfred, BetVictor, Coral and William Hill have come up trumps, just as we’d expect from our best bookmakers. They’re providing the odds for our Wednesday quartet.
| Race | Horse | Odds | Bookmaker |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:20 – Turners Novices' Hurdle | No Drama This End | 5/1 | BetVictor |
| 2:00 – Brown Advisory Novices' Chase | Final Demand | 5/1 | William Hill |
| 4:00 – Queen Mother Champion Chase | Il Etait Temps | 5/1 | Betfred |
| 4:40 – Grand Annual Challenge Cup | Relieved Of Duties | 20/1 | Coral |
Odds correct at 14:30 GMT on 09/03/26. Odds subject to change.
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NO DRAMA THIS END, 1:20 (Turners Novices’ Hurdle) – 5/1 with BetVictor
The Turners Novices’ Hurdle stretches over two miles and five furlongs, though a touch of speed between flights still helps. We’re after a classy novice with the full toolkit, something that brought us to No Drama This End of the Paul Nicholls yard.
A solid performer, he landed his third straight hurdles win last time without quite hitting top gear, possibly not loving the quick ground, but we can take a chance on that. There should be a little more cut on Wednesday, and his Newbury success made him a Grade 1 winner without putting in much more effort than he would on the gallops. He can take this under Harry Cobden, perhaps at the expense of Skylight Hustle and the improving Sober.
We love to get off to a fast start, and No Drama This End is a great reason to check out the latest Cheltenham Festival special offers, put forward by some of our best horse racing bookmakers this week.
FINAL DEMAND, 2:00 (Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase) – 5/1 with William Hill
This race serves up some of the most intriguing Cheltenham Festival odds of the week. Gordon Elliott’s Romeo Coolio is unbeaten over fences, though there’s a fair argument he’s winning without really moving forward. Willie Mullins’ Kaid d’Authie comes next after his Dublin Racing Festival success, but stablemate Final Demand was sent off long odds-on at Leopardstown, simply turning in a rare below-par effort.
Looking back through their profiles, there’s little to suggest Kaid d’Authie is the better chaser right now. A line through Gordon Eliott’s Wingmen, who’s finished behind them both, points to Final Demand as the stronger horse, provided that last-time flop wasn’t down to any lingering issue. If he arrives fit and well, as he appears to have done, Final Demand looks cracking value among our day two Cheltenham Festival picks.
IL ETAIT TEMPS, 4:00 (Queen Mother Champion Chase) – 5/1 with Betfred
Willie Mullins’ Majborough is seen as being the best horse in this race, so it’s not that he cannot win it. He is, however, a terrible odds-on favourite and simply must be opposed.
Majborough’s jumping can be sketchy, while there’s also a hint from his form profile that he needs softer ground to show his best. This time, he’ll be asked to go faster than he’s gone all season, and how he handles that tempo is not yet certain.
What we look for, including on our Saturday horse racing tips page, is what level a horse can truly reach. In the case of Majborough’s stablemate, Il Etait Temps, we reckon 178 is possible, and that’s 4lbs higher than were Majborough stands right now.
The favourite possibly did his winning when conditions changed over the winter months, but Willie Mullins’ so-called second-string has improved a ton since running third in the Arkle here two years ago and gets the vote.
What makes him our Cheltenham NAP of the day? Other than one fall, he was so impressive earlier this season. If he runs to his best, he gives Majborough a race anyway, and if Majborough puts a foot wrong, then he becomes favourite. With that in mind, 5/1 is too good to pass up.
RELIEVED OF DUTIES, 4:40 (Grand Annual Challenge Cup) – 20/1 with Coral
The Grand Annual is a two-mile handicap chase, run on lively ground, on the Old Course, and featuring 20 runners. In National Hunt terms, this is as much about speed as it gets.
Dan Skelton’s Be Aware would be landing a gamble if successful, and made our shortlist, along with Jour d’Evasion and Vanderpoel. The interesting one for sure, and one of our Cheltenham dark horses this week, was Gordon Elliott’s Relieved Of Duties.
This has all the hallmarks of a betting plot. We don’t think it’s been organised for months, but when it became clear that this horse wasn’t enjoying the bad ground over the winter, this race must have lit up in the programme book when Elliott was planning his team.
After winning on his chase debut in October, Relieved Of Duties ran well at Cheltenham’s November meeting. He went up to a rating of 137, and would have been heading towards the 150-mark had all gone well. He didn’t enjoy things on his last two starts however, and he therefore gets into this race off only 136. That’s just too low, and he is backed as the last of our Cheltenham Wednesday tips.
