Cheltenham Festival 2025 Day Two Tips – Jonbon can get deserved win at Cheltenham in the Champion Chase

Day one of Cheltenham was a blood bath for punters and very merry day for the bookmakers. 

Doubles, trebles, and the ‘banker acca' were left in dismay from an early stage, with odds on shot Majborough failing to land the The Arkle. The big talking point of Day One was, of course, Constitution Hill and Stateman both falling in the Champion Hurdle. I always had my concerns over Constitution Hill and was at least correct in my decision to take him on. My main selection in Brighterdaysahead ran a disappointing race and was set to have the form of her 30L victory to Stateman reversed, only for him to fall after seemingly having the race in the bag. Stateman saw a long stride and fell, but I question Paul Townend's decision to big up the anti instead of simply holding the horse together.

Rizz managed to land a place with his sole selection on Day One with Sean Bowen somehow nicking fourth place after looking a lost cause from a long way back. Sean will give you his all and rarely gives up on his mounts unless it's completely necessary and to grab fourth from that position is a great result. Resplendent Grey is a horse with plenty of ability, but he's a quirky sort with a tendency to throw the towel in when he can't be bothered.

Cairnzy's Tips

Jonbon 5/6 – Cheltenham 16.00

My sole selection on Day 2 is a short-priced one, but I can't get away from Jonbon in this year's Champion Chase. Trainer Nicky Henderson will be devastated by Constitution Hill's fall in the big race yesterday, but he has solid claims with Jonbon tomorrow in righting some wrongs on Day 2.

My selection arrives here as the classy horse in this field and is already 12lb superior to that of his main market rival in Marine Nationale. Racing fans worldwide will love to see an upset in this contest, particularly from Marine Nationale, who was ridden to victory in the supreme by late jockey Michael O'Sullivan back in 2023. Marine Nationale's form has dipped since then and she would need a considerable turn of fortune to get the better of Jonbon in this contest, but this is racing; anything can happen…

Although a return to the winners for Marine Nationale would be a fitting scenario, I struggle to see how she gets the better of Jonbon who simply looks head and shoulders above anything else within this field. Furthermore, Jonbon has recently seen of the challenge of the Willie Mullins-trained Energumene, who, although retaining ability, still has a fair bit to find with Jonbon, who finished just over 6L ahead of him when the pair met at Ascot in the Grade 1 Clarence House Chase.

My only slight concern in this race would be if J P O'Brien's Soleness was allowed an uncontested lead, a lead which recently saw him hammer rivals twice at Leopardstown this past few months. Solness would probably be my each way play in this contest. I might have a small wager on the R/F/C between him and Jonbon, which may offer a different angle into this contest if he was allowed to stride on.

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Rizzel's Tips

Stumptown 5/2 – Cheltenham 3.20

Well, I was definitely fortunate with my Day 1 selection on the main thread as Resplendent Grey snuck into the places after a few horses in front of his fell late in the race, but Sean Bowen stuck to the task and it looks like the horse might need six miles 🤣.

For Day two, I am going to keep the faith with Stumptown who I stuck up in December for the X-Country race when narrowly seeing off Mister Coffey late home who came on the blind side of Keith Donoghue and made it look much closer than what it probably was. This race is now a handicap, which is definitely better from a betting standpoint, but not for me this year as my horse is the top weight and has it all to do by conceding weight all around. Thankfully, I think this horse is the best horse in the race, and by a fair chunk. I backed this horse before we had even seen him this season for the Grand National at 66/1 and he is now a 20/1 shot, I mentioned this back in December and said that 50/1 was still floating around, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this horse has a great chance when turning up to Aintree in April.

Even though this is a handicap and will make life much more difficult than if it was off level weights, I don't think this is a strong race at all. The main horses who are likely to cause problems, if any, are the ones who were closest to Stumptown in December. However, Mister Coffey is still a maiden over fences from fifteen attempts, and as I've already mentioned, Keith Donoghue didn't even see Mister Coffey coming and was trying to coast home, so if it comes down to these two horses having a ding-dong battle, there will only be one winner and it isn't Mister Coffey who lacks heart.

Of those who didn't race in the December race, Vanilier is the one to be wary of. This horse hails from the same yard as Stumptown, so Keith would've had the pick of the two and he has stayed on my selection, so he should know how good each of them is. Galvin is another who could run a big race, but he is getting on in age.

I do think Stumptown will drift in the morning, so I'd probably wait if you were to follow me. People will likely think he is too short and will want to take him on, which will push his price out.

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