Today is the first day of the three-day long November Meeting at Cheltenham Racecourse, and its geared up to be an epic day of racing on good to soft ground.
The first race is the Lycetts Insurance Brokers Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle at 13:10, and is arguably the weakest race on the card.
The favourite is Marlacoo trading at odds at 10/3 and the five-year old is up 4Ibs from his last outing, meaning Cameron Iles may have his work cut out for him with the penalty.
Lord Of All Saints could be one to watch in his first appearance after a highly progressive last Winter, when he earned three wins in a row before being pulled due to injury at Ayr in March.
Sorry to spam but rode another 4-timer today 😅 (off to Fontwell for 4 rides tomorrow 👀)
— Sean Bowen (@Sean_Bowen_) October 22, 2025
Thanks to connections for the support 🙌 pic.twitter.com/7Ud9EJdNlJ
Things start to heat up at 13:45 in the Unibet Middle Distance Veterans’ Chase Series Veterans’ Handicap Chase, with reigning Champion Jumps Jockey Sean Bowen on board Gunsight Ridge for Ollie Murphy.
Bowen’s strike rate is 19% throughout his entire career, but sits at just 10% at Cheltenham, and with his horse going off top weight, the odds are not in his favour.
Nicky Henderson’s second entry of the day comes in this race in the form of highly tipped Mister Coffey.
The ten-year old is on a five-year losing spell, albeit with eight second places, but looks like he could be a player in this race with the relatively weak field.
The 14:20 Sun’s ‘Save Our Bets’ Novices’ Chase sees just five horses battle it out over 3m 1f in a Class 1 chase.
Bowen has his second ride on top of joint favourite Wade Out, who is tipped for big things this season.
His last victory at Worcester was nothing short of impressive and today’s step up in trip seems to be suited to the six-year old.
Leave of Absence is also 9/4, with Rex Dingle in the saddle, and his form certainly justifies him being joint favourite.
With three wins in his last five, and his most recent victory being at Cheltenham, the eight-year old will take all of the beating.
🏆 2023
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) November 14, 2025
🏆 2024
❓ 2025
Can Jonbon land the Shloer Chase for a third time this afternoon?
The 14:55 Shloer Chase is the main event of today’s proceedings, with Henderson’s golden boy Jonbon being odds on favourite for the Grade 2 chase.
He has never finished outside of the top two throughout his career, a mightily impressive feat, and jockey Nico de Boinville is aiming for a hat trick of victories onboard of him in this very race.
One thing to note is that the nine-year old is racing for the first time since a wind-op, and this can typically either improve a horse or end its career altogether.
Jonbon also seems to struggle with Cheltenham as a whole, having just three wins out of eight.
L’eau Du Sud is Harry Skelton’s first ride of the day, and is seen by the market as the only real competitor to Jonbon trading at odds of 7/2, with the horse trained by Dan Skelton winning at the November Meeting last year in a Grade 2.
Matata has an outside chance of causing an upset today despite being disappointing in October’s meeting, finishing in seventh place.
A return to form is possible and at odds of 8/1, it may be worth looking at the horse trained by the Twiston-Davies’.
The Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle is up next at 15:30, with Heads up leading the way as the bookies favourite at odds of 15/8 and was second in the Grade 1 Champion Bumper in March, but the step up in trip to 2m 5f will be the real tester for the five-year old.
No Drama This End however seems to be the experts’ pick perhaps due to trainer Paul Nicholls holding him in such great regard.
Harry Cobden is onboard the horse who has not ran since the Champion Bumper in March.
🔥 Harry Skelton brings the best jockey form to Cheltenham this afternoon, striking at 31% in the last 14 days, despite firing 7 blanks at Bangor on Wednesday.
— The Horse’s Mouth (@THM_Racing) November 14, 2025
He has 3 rides there today:
14:55 L’eau du Sud (7/2)
15:30 Great Fleet (8/1)
16:00 Fortune De Mer (4/1)
Who do we… pic.twitter.com/JV8xTjQAQz
The final race is the Valda Energy Novices’ Handicap Hurdle at 16:00 and sees 16 runners go over 2m 87y.
Despite not being the bookies favourite, Skelton-trained Fortune de Mer has the form at Cheltenham, where he won by a nose over 2m just three weeks ago and is trading at 4/1, however is paying the price with him now going off as top weight.
Aside from him, this seems a very open race, with favourite Alphonse Le Grande seemingly favourite due to him being bottom weight as he hasn’t finished within the top three since last October.
It’s always difficult to rule out a horse that Sean Bowen is on board of, but it’s questionable whether Bruant will stay the distance.
Sean’s brother James Bowen seems to have the better horse in this race in French Emperor, with the five-year old winning at Worcester in October, and having James Bowen in the saddle for the first time may help see even more improvement.
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