Founder & Editor · Last reviewed 2026-10-21
Cheltenham's jumps season starts on Friday 23 October with the William Hill Showcase, a two-day meeting that The Jockey Club says "raises the curtain" on the 2026/27 season at the course. Friday has the only graded race, the Sharp Novices' Hurdle (run as the Oddschecker Novices' Hurdle), and Saturday has two big staying handicaps.
This preview also uses our own results database, which covers Cheltenham from October 2023 to this year's Festival, to show how the October meeting has gone. Tap the star beside any horse, trainer or jockey named here to follow them in your Horse Tracker, and their runners are picked out on our racecards from then on.
Every horse named is an entry as at Tuesday 20 October. Friday's declarations are due on Wednesday 21 October and Saturday's on Thursday 22 October, and the final fields go up on our Cheltenham racecards.
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The October meeting in our results database
Our results database holds three October meetings here, 2023 to 2025, with 42 races between them. That is a small sample, so treat what follows as background to the card.
Favourites have a weaker record here than across jumps racing as a whole. A favourite or joint-favourite won 12 of the 42 races, four in each year. Counting joint favourites as a share, that is a strike rate of 24.6%, about a quarter, against 37.1% across the 10,721 British jumps races in the database since October 2023.
Bigger fields are much of the reason: races at the meeting averaged 11.1 runners, against 8.1 across British jumps racing.
Most of the gap is in the handicaps. The 21 October handicaps averaged 14.3 runners and a favourite won 4 of them, a 13.5% strike rate counting shares. The 21 non-handicaps averaged 7.9 runners, and favourites won 8 of them at 35.7%. Both of Saturday's features drew more than 18 entries.
Willie Mullins'sAdd W P Mullins to the Horse Tracker Cheltenham record in the database is a March record: 27 of his 30 Cheltenham winners came at the Festival, and at the October and November meetings he has had one winner from nine runners. Nine runs is too few to read much into.
Friday: the Sharp Novices' Hurdle
The feature is at 3pm. The Sharp Novices' Hurdle is a Grade 2 for four-year-olds and up over 2m87y of the Old Course, with eight hurdles and £47,552 to the winner. A BHA programme change moved it here from the November Meeting in 2023.
The entries
Sixteen were entered for a maximum field of 18, and no declarations had been published when we checked the Racing Post card in the early hours of 21 October. Dan SkeltonAdd Dan Skelton to the Horse Tracker, who has won the last two runnings, has three of them. His yard had 22 winners from 89 runners in the 14 days to 20 October. At Cheltenham he has had 31 winners from 195 runners in our database.
Four Irish yards have entries, among them Willie MullinsAdd W P Mullins to the Horse Tracker with Mr HollywoodAdd Mr Hollywood to the Horse Tracker and Henry de BromheadAdd H De Bromhead to the Horse Tracker with Cocofred. Nicky HendersonAdd Nicky Henderson to the Horse Tracker, who won the race with Vyta Du Roc and Altior, has entered Planters PunchAdd Planters Punch to the Horse Tracker. Henderson has had two runners in the 14 days to 20 October, and neither won.
Scott's LegacyAdd Scott's Legacy to the Horse Tracker runs for Nigel and Willy Twiston-DaviesAdd Nigel & Willy Twiston-Davies to the Horse Tracker, whose yard had 8 winners from 27 runners in the 14 days to 20 October. Its Cheltenham record in our database is 9 winners from 123 runners.
| Horse | Trainer |
|---|---|
| Beorma | Dan Skelton |
| Bells Grove | Edward Buckley |
| Cocofred | Henry de Bromhead |
| Cooltobecareless | Dan Skelton |
| Eternal Angel | Tom Lacey |
| Gambino | Dan Skelton |
| Golden Handshake | William Durkan |
| Governors Rock | Warren Greatrex |
| Gower Prince | Jonjo and A J O'Neill |
| Kingofthefrontier | John Dawson |
| Matiwo | Jane Williams |
| Mr Hollywood | Willie Mullins |
| Planters Punch | Nicky Henderson |
| Scott's Legacy | Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies |
| Sixpack | James Owen |
| Spanish Darling | Alex Hales |
Entries from the Racing Post card as at 20 October.
The October runnings
The favourite has been beaten in all three runnings since the race moved to October. Three runnings is a tiny sample.
| Year | Winner (SP) | Trainer | Jockey | Favourite (SP), finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Fortune De MerAdd Fortune De Mer to the Horse Tracker (14/1) | Dan Skelton | Harry Skelton | Un Sens A La Vie (5/2), 7th |
| 2024 | Valgrand (3/1) | Dan Skelton | Harry Skelton | Gale Mahler (4/5), 2nd |
| 2023 | LookawayAdd Lookaway to the Horse Tracker (9/2) | Neil King | Jack Quinlan | Toto Too (13/8), 5th |
SPs and favourites from our results database; jockeys from the Racing Post result (2025) and Wikipedia (2023, 2024).
Saturday: two big staying handicaps
Saturday's two big handicaps run back to back, both on ITV.
2.20pm: Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle
Twenty-nine were entered for this three-mile Pertemps series qualifier, with £19,061 to the winner. Gowel Road is top weight for the Twiston-Davies yard. Hang In ThereAdd Hang In There to the Horse Tracker, a past winner of the Sharp Novices' Hurdle, is entered for Emma LavelleAdd Emma Lavelle to the Horse Tracker, who won this race last year with Ma Shantou, the 18/5 favourite. Dan Skelton has Ace Of Spades and El Gavilan, and Nicky HendersonAdd Nicky Henderson to the Horse Tracker, who won it in 2023 with Hyland at 9/1, has La Pinsonniere. The Irish-trained Grann's Boy (H Rogers) is also in.
2.55pm: the 3m1f handicap chase
The William Hill Best Odds Guaranteed Handicap Chase is worth £52,030 to the winner and drew 19 entries for a maximum field of 20. Henry de BromheadAdd H De Bromhead to the Horse Tracker has won it twice in three years, with Whacker Clan at 12/1 in 2023 and Senior Chief at 11/1 in 2024. Last year his The Short GoAdd The Short Go to the Horse Tracker was the beaten 4/1 favourite, fourth behind Gordon Elliott's Three Card Brag, and The Short Go is entered again.
All four of De Bromhead's October-meeting winners in our database, from 16 runners, were 10/1 or bigger. Four winners is too few to read anything into.
ViroflayAdd Viroflay to the Horse Tracker is top weight for Paul NichollsAdd Paul Nicholls to the Horse Tracker. Dan SkeltonAdd Dan Skelton to the Horse Tracker has four of the 19: Diamond Dealer, Here Comes Georgie, Palamon and Mumford's Magic. David Pipe has Karnaval Point, and the other Irish entry is Beggars Rock for Ian Patrick Donoghue.
The ground and the new drains
Both days are on the Old Course, and the Racing Post going on 20 October was Good (GoingStick 6.7), with the track watered.
The ground has new drains under it. A hole opened up on the track at Trials Day in January, and the course called off its final three racedays of 2025/26 to replace the drainage. More than 1,000 metres of drains went in, including the 600-metre main drain along the home straight, and the work finished in August. Clerk of the course Jon Pullin said on 6 October: "We're very happy with how the drainage upgrade and recovery has gone."
The drought has cost the November Meeting its Cross Country Chase, because the cross-country track inside the main courses could not be watered. That race moves to Festival Trials Day on 30 January.
Times and tickets
Gates open at 11.15am on both days. Racing runs from 1.15pm to 4.45pm on Friday and 1.10pm to 4.40pm on Saturday, when an ABBA tribute act, FABBAGIRLS, plays afterwards. The Jockey Club offers 10% off General Admission for groups of six or more, and under-18s go free with a free children's ticket (day out guide).
Bet responsibly
Fourteen races over two days add up quickly, so set a budget before Friday and keep to it on Saturday too. If you bet each way in the big handicaps, our each-way guide explains how places and fractions work. The odds favour the bookmaker over time. If gambling stops being fun, free confidential support is available from BeGambleAware on 0808 8020 133. 18+.
After the Showcase
The results for both days go up once the races are run. Wetherby's Grade 2 Charlie Hall Chase follows on Saturday 31 October, and Cheltenham is back for the November Meeting from Friday 13 to Sunday 15 November, with tips for the big handicaps.
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