The 2026 Cheltenham Festival: super stats and facts for day three

Andy Stephens reflects on the days when Galmoy was an Irish saviour plus the dreadful record of horses who have won Pertemps Final qualifiers and much more.  Click here for Free Cheltenham bets.

Willie Mullins was responsible for the first five winners of this race – all of them French-breds who started their careers in France. But he’s lost his grip in the past five years. 

The first ten winners have all been aged five or six, with six of them having previously won or been placed in a Graded race. 

Rachael Blackmore won last year’s renewal on Air Of Entitlement and had one more win up her sleeve that day but she will not return after retiring in May of last year. She rode 18 Festival winner and became the first woman to be leading jockey at meeting with six victories in 2021. 

Blackmore’s glittering triumphs included the Cheltenham Gold Cup on A Plus Tard in 2022; the Champion Hurdle on Honeysuckle (2021 and 2022); Champion Chase on Captain Guinness (20240); Stayers’ Hurdle on Bob Olinger (2025); plus Ryanair Chase on Allaho (2021) and Envoi Allen (2023). 

The Jack Richards Novices’ Handicap Chase has replaced the Grade One Turners Novices’ Chase. 

Willie Mullins had lost the knack of winning the now defunct race. He scooped four of the first six renewals but in the last seven years of its existence he was out of luck with his 17 runners finishing 4P60U235836F34679 despite a number being leading fancies. 

So perhaps it is good news for Mullins that he no longer has to worry about how to crack the race. Or is it? 

The champion trainer, with a record 113 Festival winners in the bag, has peculiarly has still yet to scoop a handicap chase at the meeting. Cheltenham added two more last year, giving Mullins more opportunities to get that monkey off his back.

It can only be a matter of time before he puts the record straight. But we've been saying that for a good while now.

Willie Mullins didn’t have a runner in the first renewal, in 2008. Since then, he has saddled 11 of the 17 winners (admittedly Quevega won six of them) and it would have been 12 had Benie Des Dieux not fallen at the final flight in 2019 with victory at her mercy. 

He’s also been responsible for the runner-up on four of the occasions when failing to hit the target. None of his trio in 2023 finished in the first three but normal service has been resumed in the past couple of years courtesy of Lossiemouth. He also fielded the runner-up 12 months ago and his third challenger was going well when exiting three out. 

Henry De Bromhead’s runners are also worth noting. He won the race with Honeysuckle in 2020 and 2023, plus fielded the second, third and fourth two years ago at 22-1, 40-1 and 18-1. 

Seven horses have won two renewals or more. They are: (1912-13), Crimson Embers (1982 and 1986), Galmoy (1987-88), Baracouda (2002-03), Inglis Drever (2005, 2007-08), Big Buck’s (2009-2012) and Flooring Porter (2021-22). 

Irish-trained runners have dominated recent Cheltenham Festivals but it was not always the case. 

Galmoy, trained by John Mulhern, was notable for being the only Irish-trained winner at the meeting in 1987 and 1988. He was also second in the 1989 renewal when Ireland suffered a whitewash for the first time since 1947. You can get any price you like on the same happening this year. 

This will be the 20th year that Ryanair have sponsored this Grade One event and, naturally, Michael O’Leary, the CEO of Ryanair, likes to have a runner via his horse racing arm of Gigginstown Stud (the 2005 race was backed by The Daily Telegraph). 

Between 2006 and 2012, O’Leary’s sole runner was Mossbank, runner-up in the 2008 edition. 

It was a different story between 2013 and 2024, when he had at least one runner in every renewal, hitting the jackpot with Balko Des Flos in 2018. He’s had seven other runners finish second or third. 

Overall, the record of Gigginstown horses in the Ryanair reads 227323241437P6PF63. Last year, they were unrepresented for the first time since 2012, and Croke Park is their only entry this time. 

Seventeen of the 21 Ryanair Chase winners have boasted at least one previous win at Cheltenham. The four exceptions have been Riverside Theatre, Balko Des Flo, Min and Allaho, although they all had at least some experience of the track. 

A top-four finish in one of the qualifiers has been required to be eligible in the past three years, whereas it had been a top-six finish before that. 

None of the past 11 winners have won a qualifier. And only one, Doddiethegreat last year, has finished second in one. 

The last horse to win a qualifier and then land the Final was Fingal Bay, back in 2014. 

This year’s qualifiers in Britain and Ireland (there are also a couple in France) have been won by Ma Shantou (Cheltenham in October); Haiti Couleurs (Newbury in November); Impose Toi (Aintree in November); Idy Wood (Kempton in November); Staffordshire Knot (Punchestown in November); Devon Skies (Market Rasen in November);  Kikijo (Sandown in December); Nab Wood (Carlisle in December); Absolutely Doyen (Wincanton in December); Duke Silver (Leopardstown in December); Ace Of Spades (Huntingdon in January) and Red Risk (Musselburgh in February). 

There are two more to come at Haydock on February 14 and Chepstow a week later. 

None of the past eight winners had won in the previous eight months, so don’t worry if your fancy is enduring a lean spell (you could even view it as a positive).

The last to buck the trend was Presenting Percy in 2017, but he needed to as otherwise his rating would have been too low to make the cut.  Presenting Percy was the middle leg of a remarkable treble for Davy Russell, who also won the renewals in 2016 (Mall Dini) and 2018  (Delta Work). 

Just four winners since 1992 have been aged ten or older. Increasingly, this is a race for younger legs with seven of the past 13 renewals won by horses aged no older than seven. 

Only two of the past 21 winners won on their most recent start, while nine of the past 15 winners have worn some form of headgear. Daily Present, last year’s 12-1 winner, was sporting blinkers. 

The race is restricted to horses rated no higher than 145. Four of the last seven victors have been rated 141 or higher, so don’t dismiss those up near the top of the weights. 

Many racing fans drop the reference to Fulke Walwyn and refer to the race as the Kim Muir. 

It was established in 1946 and originally known as the Kim Muir Amateur Riders' Steeplechase, remembering a cavalry officer who lost his life during World War II.

The name of Fulke Walwyn was added to the title in 1991. He was a legendary trainer whose 40 Festival triumphs included four Gold Cups.