All hail the 100/1 shot; here are five among the first set of Cheltenham Festival entries that are of more interest than their odds suggest.
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GG Jumps Journal – 100/1 Cheltenham Chances
2025 saw a 100/1 Triumph Hurdle triumph on debut, a 150/1 winner of the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood and a 200/1 success for Powerful Glory in the British Champions Sprint Stakes. The record was also set in 2025 for the longest-priced winner ever in Britain when Blowers scored at 300/1 at Exeter.
Let us therefore live briefly in a reality where that trend not only continues, but is exaggerated even further below Cleeve Hill in March.
Queen Mother Champion Chase – Only By Night
Gavin Cromwell’s poor form has extended well beyond a temporary blip, but only by Cheltenham could it be considered a full-blown crisis. Even three months into the jumps season proper it is reasonable to predict an upturn at some point, which might mean Only By Night is overpriced.
Connections will likely give her the option of the Mares’ Chase too, but there are multiple factors which point towards her running in the Champion Chase. The first is that five of her seven runs over fences have been in open company rather than mares’ only races, including her last four starts, three of which have been Grade 1s. This hits upon the second reason: one of those races was last season’s Arkle in which she was a gallant runner-up, caught late up the hill only by Jango Baie.
The third reason is an extension on which races she has run in, namely that bar a Grade 1 novice hurdle attempt in March 2024 over 2m4f, she has raced exclusively between 2m-2m1f under rules. She did win a point-to-point over 3m, but the minimum trip over fences has so far proven ideal.
Despite her yard’s ailing form, she made a winning return at Naas in November, form which looks pretty solid given some of her rivals that day. She was only fifth in the Grade 1 Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase to follow that up, but she would be forgiven that effort anyway given how her stablemates have been racing and she was the horse most ill-affected by Marine Nationale’s terrible early mistake. The Champion Chaser broadsided Only By Night, who was racing in rear, though she still beat two rivals in her toughest assignment to date.
The Queen Mother Champion Chase will be yet another step up the ladder, but she can be expected to improve upon her Christmas outing and Cheltenham suited her well last year. With the race likely to cut up from the 24 entries, she will be shorter on the day and taking up an each-way option on her now could be a very viable bet.
GG Jumps Journal – Is The 2015 King George The Greatest Race Of All Time?
Positive reflections lead us to inaccurate retrospective. This was maybe the best race of all time, despite the heartbreak I endured watching it. GG Jumps Journal – Remembering the 2015 King George VI Chase Gold Cups, with their enduring lustre, and Grand Nationals for their glory, almost always fill the mind when recalling the greatest…
Wed 17 Dec 2025Ryanair Chase – Croke Park
He was likely a fortuitous winner of two Grade 1 novice chases last season, but Croke Park is a tough nut to crack at his best. Cheltenham may well provide a first opportunity to race under fair conditions this campaign too.
His top level successes have ensured that he has carried heavy penalties at a slightly lower level this campaign. He was conceding 12lb and more all round on his return in a Grade 3 at Punchestown, running respectably in third, then filled the same position when trying to concede 10lb to stablemate Firefox and 7lb to the useful Gorgeous Tom. He was third again, with the fences omitted likely to this bold jumper’s detriment.
Once more, he finished third in Tramore’s New Year’s Day Chase, behind last season’s Ryanair runner-up Heart Wood for the second time this campaign. Once more, he was giving Henry De Bromhead’s charge weight though, this time to the tune of 6lb, and went with him for most of the journey before soft ground caught him out late on.
He shapes more as a gutsy sort than a stayer, with the hope being that connections opt for his Ryanair entry over the Gold Cup if Cheltenham is in their calculations. The eight-year-old beat Heart Wood off level weights in Fairyhouse’s Drinmore Novice Chase last season, with that form proving very handy by the end of 2024/25, especially as that rival had much greater chasing experience at that juncture.
He will see out 2m5f on the New Course stoutly and if he can get into a decent jumping rhythm, taking 100/1 now could prove wise on a horse who will be racing on a level playing field with his opponents for the first time this season.
Cheltenham Gold Cup – Champ Kiely, Gerri Colombe & Handstands
A triple threat of 100/1 shots are intriguing regarding the most glittering race of them all. This year’s Gold Cup looks set to be among the most open renewals for many years, so at 6/1 the field, there is potential for value at three-digit prices.
For reference, these three are all Grade 1 winners yet trade at the same odds since entries as the 145-rated Konfusion. With respect to Joel Parkinson & Sue Smith’s improving eight-year-old, he has a mountain yet to climb to reach Gold Cup quality, whereas the trio above have all demonstrated hints that they are can clear the summit.
We’ll start with Gerri Colombe. The world was at his feet approaching the 2023 Cheltenham Festival, in which he was short-headed for the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase, but he still managed to win nine of his first 11 races under ruled heading into the 2024 Gold Cup, in which he gave game chase to Galopin Des Champs in second.
Both that year’s protagonists are now aged ten, with that being used as a plausible negative for Galopin Des Champs. The same must be admitted for Gerri Colombe, though their careers have gone down wildly different paths since, Galopin Des Champs fiercely contesting every golden prize on offer last season while Gerri Colombe was nursing his wounds at home in Cullentra for the majority.
His injury absences may well count against him nowadays, with his two runs since winning Aintree’s Grade 1 Bowl in 2024 seeing him disappoint at Down Royal at the end of that year, and then be pulled up after 421 days off in the recent Savills Chase. However, he is a big horse who surely takes some getting fit, so there is reason to be hopeful he will take a substantial leap forward for engaging in a race for the first time. If Gordon Elliott can manufacture a route to the Gold Cup, a renewal of something near his best could be enough for the frame.
Champ Kiely is another horse whose career was interrupted by an unwanted absence. He missed 614 days between the 2023 Punchestown Festival and his chase debut on New Year’s Day 2025, which he won comfortably. Unlike Gerri Colombe, he can fire when fresh, but that is not a pre-requisite for his best, as he won the 3m1f Grade 1 novice chase at Punchestown last term having run at Fairyhouse just nine days earlier over 2m4f.
That proved him to be a stayer at heart, with lost time ensuring this year’s Cheltenham Festival may be his only chance at glory. He ran a blinder on his return over a 2m trip that would have been sharp enough at Naas before tripping and stumbling on the flat in the Savills Chase. Due to that misfortune, Willie Mullins ran him again just four days later at Tramore, but that may have been unwise, as he was well-beaten into fifth behind Heart Wood.
With a couple of months to ease any battle scars from his Leopardstown tumble, there is plentiful ability under the ten-year-old’s bonnet. His performance at Punchestown was better than any effort displayed in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham last year and he would add more than an element of intrigue to the Gold Cup line-up if Mullins sways that way ahead of the Ryanair.
Lastly, the sole British runner on the Jumps Journal’s 100/1 radar is Handstands. Trainer’s words require more pinches of salt than your aunt’s cooking, but it is still noteworthy that Ben Pauling believes Handstands to be as capable a Gold Cup chance as recent King George hero The Jukebox Man. Handstands is 100/1 in places, while The Jukebox Man is vying for favouritism at a high of 8/1.
There is no doubt Harry Redknapp’s star has now achieved more on a racecourse, but Handstands has shown more than the odd flash too. He claimed the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase last season ahead of Jango Baie, form that has only been elevated tier upon tier since. At that stage, he was probably considered a likelier Gold Cup horse than The Jukebox Man, whose season had already ended at Kempton due to injury two months prior.
Handstands has failed to kick firmly on since, but he was hampered by a faller at Aintree, would have needed the run when second to bet365 Gold Cup winner Resplendent Grey on return, then got bogged down in ground tackier than the official good-to-soft in the Betfair Chase. Pauling is adamant he is capable of much better than he showed at Haydock, which his novice chase season suggests is a reasonable prospect. He is another 100/1 shot who requires heeding.
GG Jumps Journal – The Definitive Grade 1 Ranking So Far This Season
Big races come thick and fast during racing’s post-Christmas silly season, but here is the Jumps Journal’s definitive ranking of our Grade 1 winners in Great Britain and Ireland so far. GG Jumps Journal – GB & Ire Grade 1 Winners So Far Ranked 9. Golden Ace – Fighting Fifth Hurdle (29th November) For a…
Wed 10 Dec 2025Tip for the Weekend
Lanesborough looked a horse going places when winning four weeks ago, but he may take some restraining over this 2m5f distance given how strongly he travelled over 2m at Doncaster. He is no 100/1 shot, but top-weight French Ship has looked just as progressive, winning readily at Newbury last time and a 10lb rise can be defied.