Thursday Cheltenham Festival ante-post tips and best bets for Day 3

talkSPORT have you covered with horse racing tips looking at the best bets on every day of Cheltenham Festival, including Day 3 of the meeting on Thursday 12th March.

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 Thursday Ante-Post Tips

• Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle: Bambino Fever 11/8
• Jack Richards Novices’ Chase: Jordans Cross 12/1
• Mares Hurdle: Wodhooh 5/4
• Ryanair Chase: Fact To File 4/5

Bambino Fever

Thursday early on looks as though it’s for Willie Mullins to really stamp his authority on Cheltenham Festival as he so often has.

He will likely have a few winners already but could add three here in just the races highlighted in these ante-post tips.

Bambino Fever is a huge favourite for the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle setting off at 1.20pm.

She’s a six-year-old chestnut mare who impressed winning with ease in a maiden hurdle at Fairyhouse in January.

Fans might have been concerned as her long-awaited hurdle debut saw her lose at 1/4 by half a length.

But prior to that her bumper form was exceptional and her ability far surpasses that hurdle debut as she travelled so well but may well have just struggled when not fluent over one hurdle.

Then the next time out jockey Paul Townend made sure he made all, keeping her well ahead, giving her a bit more of a breather a couple of furlongs out before going on to go clear and easily land as the 1/10 favourite.

She won the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham Festival last year and that form so often works out well.

Jordans Cross

There’s still 60 runners entered into this wide open contest where the aim is likely to go for each-way prices anyway.

But early on Jordans Cross at 12/1 looks very promising for value.

The Athony Honeyball-trained six-year-old is 3/4 over fences now and looks a promising chaser for his yard.

He keeps just getting his nose in front too justifying each rise in the weights/ratings which means he could just still keep improving and showing he’s capable of more.

The best of course was over course and distance in January when beating Quebecois by a nose under Sam Twiston-Davies.

It says a lot when a horse has that determination to keep on well in the final furlong and he was deployed perfectly to win to get ahead in the final stride.

All attributes which help win at this Festival in March.

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Wodhooh

Lossiemouth would be my choice if she were to go for this Mares’ Hurdle but surely she’s got to try for the Champion Hurdle.

With that, Wodhooh at 5/4 looks like a great play for now.

This Gordon Elliott-trained horse has won nine of her ten hurdle contests, placing second the only time she’s failed to win.

That kind of experience and winning consistency is hard to ignore and surely she’s got to prove herself again having lost only narrowly to Lossiemouth at Aintree.

Wodhooh burst onto the scene at last year’s festival as the 9/2 hot contender of the Martin Pipe, beating some high-rated geldings and mares proving she warranted a big rise in the ratings.

Fact To File

Mullins has another big contender to win another big Grade 1 and top races of the day.

Fact To File is hard to ignore now being angled for the Ryanair Chase instead of going to either the Gold Cup or any other race for that matter.

He won this race last year by nine lengths when 6/4 favourite and is now a shorter favourite given that race.

He has only won once since but it came at a vital time when 9/2 at Leopardstown in February’s Dublin Racing Festival.

Without that he might well have been a big price for this race, having been comfortably beaten in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day and narrowly beaten by Gaelic Warrior at Punchestown in November.

But he’s bounced back to form at the perfect time and comes up against horses less established and who will also go for the Gold Cup instead, so he might even shorten from his current price.

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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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