The Cheltenham Festival is one of the biggest horse racing events on earth which sees some of the greatest jump racing talent converge each March.
The headlines are typically dominated by the early favorites and most well-known horses, although there are frequently shocks in the proceedings too.
Here we will look at some horses that have the potential to deliver upset victories in the championship races this year.
Lossiemouth
Heading into 2024 the Champion Hurdle was seen as a race that would undoubtedly be dominated by Constitution Hill. However, after his problems with illness throughout 2024 so far he is unlikely to be at his best for the opening day at Cheltenham.
This means that the first championship race could be wide open for another impressive horse to claim. One of those is Lossiemouth who is offered at +300 in the Cheltenham betting odds.
Lossiemouth is trained by Willie Mullins and will be ridden by the -300 frontrunner in the Cheltenham 2024 top jockey odds Paul Townend which is a perfect formula for major race-winning success.
The horse which is trained in Ireland won in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham last year and will now progress to the more prestigious event following a victory in the International Hurdle in January.
Mullins’ entries typically produce the biggest headlines at Cheltenham although Lossiemouth may be a dark horse in a sense as the Irish trainer himself may not expect her to achieve Grade One success at the festival just yet.
Edwardstone
The Champion Chase looks like it will be El Fabiolo’s to lose although his frontrunning competition is certainly not lacking.
Jonbon is the pick of many to challenge El Fabiolo, although Edwardstone has shown strong signs that he is also ready to compete for glory at Cheltenham.
The horse finished as a runner-up behind Jonbon on two occasions in 2023 and perhaps it could be third time lucky at Cheltenham.
The most recent meeting of the pair at Sandown in December saw Edwardstone miss out by two and three-quarter lengths so he will struggle to beat Jonbon at his best.
However, Jonbon lost at the Cheltenham trials day in January while being an odds-on favorite and that could be a sign of shortcomings to come at the March festival too which Edwardstone could take advantage of.
Fastorslow
In regards to the standout Gold Cup on day four, any competitor is a massive outsider compared to Galopin Des Champs. It is almost unthinkable that the Mullins-trained 2023 winner could fail to win this year.
However, the horse that stands the greatest chance at stopping him is Fastorslow and he has experience in doing just that.
Since finishing as a runner-up in last year’s Gold Cup, Fastorslow finished in first place ahead of Galopin Des Champs in the Punchestown Gold Cup and the Punchestown Chase to round out 2023.
He is seemingly the only horse that has the beating off Galopin Des Champs on an off-day. If the French horse is not at its best this year then Fastorslow could cause a big shock and claim the biggest prize of his career.
It is tough to look beyond the favorites at Cheltenham as each are remarkably dominant racehorses. However, the three we have discussed here are strong candidates to cause an upset, and each year shocks do occur.
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