Cheltenham Festival 2027 ante-post guides
Updated 21 October 2026. Ante-post markets move a lot before March, so we refresh this guide after the key trials.
The Queen Mother Champion Chase is the two-mile chasing championship of the Cheltenham Festival, a level-weights Grade 1 that rewards speed and slick jumping over everything else. Willie Mullins' defending champion Il Etait Temps, who followed up in the Punchestown Champion Chase in April, heads the early market at around 5/2. His stablemates Kopek Des Bordes and Kargese, first and second home in a dramatic 2026 Arkle, are the main threats so far.
He ticks the big boxes: an Irish-trained Mullins horse who will be nine in March, the age that has produced four of the last ten winners, and he proved himself the best two-miler around by winning at Cheltenham and Punchestown last spring. The race has been cruel to short-priced favourites, so The Selector would want him to come through the Tingle Creek or the Dublin Chase cleanly, but on what we know in October nothing in the division has shown more.
| 8 of 10 winners were aged 8 or 9 | Four 8yos and four 9yos have won; the only exceptions were Put The Kettle On, a 7yo in 2021, and Special Tiara, a 10yo in 2017. |
| Irish stables have won the last six | Politologue in 2020 was the last British-trained winner, and Ireland has 7 of the 10 wins overall (Willie Mullins 3, Henry de Bromhead 3, Barry Connell 1). |
| Odds-on favourites: 1 win from 8 | Only Altior at 4/11 in 2019 obliged, while Douvan (2/9), Defi Du Seuil (2/5), Chacun Pour Soi (8/13), Shishkin (5/6), El Fabiolo (2/9), Jonbon (5/6) and Majborough (5/6) were all turned over. |
| Favourites won 3 of 10 | Altior (evens in 2018 and 4/11 in 2019) and Energumene (6/5 in 2023) are the only market leaders to have won in this period. |
| Only 2 of 10 winners won last time out | Altior is the only last-time-out winner to follow up, twice; the last seven winners were beaten or failed to finish on their previous start, and Il Etait Temps won in 2026 after a fall at Ascot. |
| Every winner was 11/1 or shorter | Half the winners returned 5/1 or bigger (Special Tiara 11/1, Politologue 6/1, Put The Kettle On 17/2, Captain Guinness 17/2, Marine Nationale 5/1), so the market has a decent grip without the favourite dominating. |
| Defending champions: 2 wins from 5 tries | Altior (2019) and Energumene (2023) retained their crowns, while Special Tiara pulled up, Put The Kettle On was fifth and Captain Guinness third when trying to repeat. |
| Top-rated runner won just once in five years | Where ratings are recorded in our data (2022 to 2026), winners were rated between 167 and 183, but the highest-rated runner only won when Energumene obliged in 2023. |
Won the Clonmel Oil Chase, the Tingle Creek, the Champion Chase by 10 lengths and the Punchestown Champion Chase by five lengths last season, and at nine next March he sits right in the age band that has produced most winners.
Against: He fell at Ascot in January when looking held, his 2026 success was his only win from four Cheltenham starts, and short-priced favourites have a poor record in this race.
The 2025 Supreme winner only went down by two and a quarter lengths in the Arkle on just his second chase start, after a mistake at the last, and his overall record reads five wins from eight runs.
Against: His jumping is still a worry after he fell two out as the 4/11 favourite at Punchestown, and only one 7yo has won this in the past ten years.
Made virtually all to win the Arkle at 7/1 and has won twice from three Cheltenham starts, having also landed the 2025 County Hurdle.
Against: Mullins said after the Arkle that her owner may want to breed from her, and her rating of 164 that day was below every recent winner's mark.
The 2025 winner is unbeaten in two starts at Cheltenham and ran Il Etait Temps to five lengths at Punchestown in April.
Against: He went winless last season, finishing second three times and missing the Festival, and he will be ten in March.
The highest-rated horse in the 2026 field at 183, he hammered Marine Nationale by 19 lengths in the Dublin Chase.
Against: He jumped poorly as the 5/6 favourite at Cheltenham, finishing seventh, was only fourth at Punchestown, and could be aimed at longer trips this season.
Britain's best young two-miler won the Henry VIII at Sandown and the Game Spirit at Newbury as a novice and was rated 174 for the Arkle.
Against: He made mistakes when third at 11/10 in the Arkle and unseated at Aintree, he will only be six, and British stables have not won this since 2020.
Prices are a rough guide to the ante-post market when this guide was updated, not an offer.
Pick a horse in every race, name your NAP for double points and climb the leaderboard. No stake, no card, nothing to pay.
Today's tips · NAP of the day · The Selector's record · Festival tips · What is a NAP?