Cheltenham Tips - Day One

See below for our Cheltenham Tips for Day One of the Festival, covering all 7 races on Tuesday 10th March 2026!

Our full Cheltenham tips for Day One will be posted on Monday 9th March 2026.

See below for our antepost tips, posted in the run up to Cheltenham and updated throughout February.

This section will be populated with tips and writeups for every race at the Cheltenham Festival Day One when our Cheltenham Festival tips go live.

Champion Hurdle

Time: 16:00

Distance: 2 miles

Click here to see our Champion Hurdle tips and learn more about the race.

Key Information

• Gates Open: 10:30
• First Race: 13:20
• Last Race: 17:20
• Number of Races: 7
• Feature Race: Champion Hurdle
• 2025 Attendance: 55,498

We have a general approach for picking all our Cheltenham tips. The list of information we consider when picking our horses is too long to write out in full, and not every characteristic is applicable for every race.

At a high level, our tipsters consider the form of each horse, taking into account the track types and conditions this has been achieved at, and the form of the trainer and jockey.

However, each day of the Festival has certain unique attributes which must be taken into account. This is especially true on Day 1, and 2026 is a standout year.

Why is it especially true on Day 1? The conditions of Cheltenham - the ground, weather, recent form, trials races, and so on - are different every year. Making appropriate adjustments for these is key to picking winners on Day 1, and it's a great opportunity to pick bigger price winners before others adjust.

And why is 2026 a standout year? There have been numerous changes in 2026 versus previous years. Races are being run on different days to previous years which will affect the ground conditions. Some races have had slight difference changes or start in different places, and maximum field sizes have changed.

The biggest change for Day One is the move of the Mares' Hurdle from Day One to Day Three (Thursday), with the Plate Handicap Chase moving from Thursday to take the 16:40 Tuesday slot.

We have a full page of Cheltenham Festival Day One Free Bets, but you can see our top 3 free bets for Day One below: