Friday Cheltenham Festival tips and best bets for Gold Cup Day

talkSPORT have you covered with horse racing tips looking at the best bets on every day of Cheltenham Festival, including Day 4 of the meeting on Friday 13th March featuring the Gold Cup.

talkSPORT’s horse racing tipster Tom Lunn has gone through the racecard, form, going, race replays, and much more to help guide your horse racing betting at Cheltenham Festival.

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Cheltenham Festival Friday Tips

• 1.20, JCB Triumph Hurdle: Highland Crystal 10/1 & Selma De Vary 7/2
• 2.00, County Handicap Hurdle: Sinnatra 6/1
• 2.40, Mares’ Chase: Dinoblue 2/1
• 3.20, Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle: Doctor Steinberg 7/2 & Moneygarrow 12/1 (25/1 AP) & Hipop De Loire 33/1
• 4.00, Gold Cup: Gaelic Warrior 9/2

1pt each unless otherwise advised. All tips at 5/1+ are each-way.

Highland Crystal & Selma De Vary

This race saw a 100/1 winner last year, under Jonjo O’Neill Jr for one of many Willie Mullins runners.

The Irish trainer has won five of the last six renewals of this race so it’s hard to ignore him winning again.

He has as many as nine runners in this race this year and it’s wide open with only a couple of runs if that from all runners in this field.

As such, it’s a massive punt in every single way apart from seeing potential from the first race or races.

Proactif is amongst the favourites who’s won two on the bounce and Maestro Conti is 3-3 for the Skeltons, but there could still be a surprise from bigger prices for this one, though it’s rare that there’s a huge surprise.

I like two horses here and they’re both fillies. One being Highland Crystal whose form was massively boosted when Saratoga won earlier this festival.

That horse was second behind Highland Crystal last time out and the filly carried 7lb more which only adds to that potential and winning run.

The ground could be the only concern as she’s clearly suited to softer conditions.

However, it feels wrong to not back a Mullins-trained horse so Selma De Vary is a great bet as she got into second really well having been given a lot to do from the bend to make up the lengths against Narciso Has.

Her place behind Narciso Has was encouraging having won at Auteuil in November by a wide margin and she follows in the footsteps of Lossiemouth, Vauban for owner Rich Ricci.

Sinnatra

Willie Mullins has won six of the last 11 while Dan Skelton has won four of the County Cup renewals.

Mullins has three in this though so you’ve got to pick the right one from his crop of Karbau, Murcia, and Absurde while Skelton has Sinnatra and Tellherthename.

Plenty of those have been big prices too, Absurde won this in 2024 at 12/1, Faivoir at 33/1 in 2022, Arctic Fire in 2017 at 20/1 and so on.

I really like Sinnatra in this at 6/1 and his form is another that has worked well with this year’s festival, having placed behind Act Of Innocence twice who was second behind King Rasko Grey on Wednesday.

He’s got form on soft ground, good ground and good to soft so there’s no concern of more rain that’s forecast over Thursday evening.

He escapes any rise in the weights as a handicap newcomer and gets 17lb from Karbau.

Dinoblue

Hard to go for any other mare other than Dinoblue who has come through to win by a distance in her last two races showing she’s in great form.

This mare won this race last year as the 6/4 favourite too beating Brides Hill by over eight lengths.

She went on to win in May too beating Allegori De Vassy by a huge 35 lengths.

Another Willie Mullins favourite who should take this up comfortably, one of the few favourites that won’t be ridden by Paul Townend as Mark Walsh is her regular rider.

Moneygarrow, Doctor Steinberg & Hipop De Loire

Mullins has trained the winner of the Albert Bartlett four times in the last nine renewals.

The latest was Jasmin De Vaux in impressive style at 6/1, a fairly short price considering the usual prices of the Bartlett winners.

Which means a win in the last couple of races isn’t necessary for winning this race.

In fact, the last two winners of this race only won their seasonal debut before going on to place in the top four for three and two races before going on to win at Cheltenham.

This year though, there seems to be an influx of winners which blows it wide open in the betting.

A large part of this is because there’s a plethora of runners that will be stepping up to 3m for the first time which often prompts big priced shockers.

Shantou has sired the winner twice in the last four runners and only has two at this year’s Albert Bartlett, including Moneygarrow at a tempting 25/1 ante-post price which has now been backed into 12/1 the evening before.

He was fifth in the Albert Bartlett in November but could relish this step up in trip.

But Doctor Steinberg is another hard to ignore at the top of the market for the usual suspects Townend and Mullins.

The step up to 2m5f and 2m6f proved profitable and this gelding is 3/3 over hurdles including a huge winner last time out in Grade 1 company, strong.

The fact he races freely is concerning, but the fact he does that and still goes on to win so well, suggests he could be even better than once thought.

It’s really tough for me to not also tip three in total in this race, as the now 28/1 shot Hipop De Loire looks very appealing.

He’s incredibly unexposed over hurdles and his form in that discipline has worked out so well.

The nine-year-old has been great on the flat but clearly has class in both jumps as well, he beat Zanndabad in July last year in a maiden hurdle and that horse has gone on to rise 16lb in his official rating.

The seven-year-old has won two hurdle contests by a wide margin so Hipop De Loire has a big chance.

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Gaelic Warrior

This Mullins-trained horse is just about the favourite or at least contending with The Jukebox Man at around 4’s, having been tipped in the ante-post tips at 6/1.

This is probably the most open Gold Cup in some years and as such should live up to that kind of billing with a few horses to go head-to-head to the finish, just like the finish to the King George VI Chase.

That ending had The Jukebox Man, Banbridge, Gaelic Warrior, and Jango Baie finishing within a half length of each other.

Arguably the greatest King George VI Chase, where each horse looked at various points like they were going to win.

And it could be a very similar outcome with many of the same horses set to lineup again for a King George rematch.

However, this time Gaelic Warrior should be able to settle in much better than he did at Kempton.

He kept on really well to battle and even looked like he’d come out a clear winner with that late challenge.

But as he was keen that could have been enough to deny him by a short head from the win.

Gaelic Warrior didn’t run at Cheltenham last year but did win in 2024 in the Arkle and has gone on to assert himself as a top class chaser amid the best of the best.

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Tom Lunn’s Horse Racing Profit & Loss

• From October ’25: 26.15pts
• From March ’25: +96.28pts
• From May ’24: +266.66pts
• From Oct ’23: +306.13pts

All odds correct at time of writing

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