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Cheltenham Festival: I’m with Majborough over Sir Gino – but 10/1 NRMB shot can take advantage if either falter

Ruby Walsh

Cheltenham Festival, Horse Racing Tips

7mo ago

*Paddy Power is now Non Runner Money Back for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival. That means that if your selection does not line up in the race you back it in for any reason – you will now get your stake back. TC’s apply.

*Paddy also has the more traditional ante-post market where you will lose your stake if your selection doesn’t run in the race for whatever reason.

Paddy Power Media’s ‘From The Horse’s Mouth’ podcast ‘Cheltenham Countdown’ is back as host Tom Nugent picks the brains of the Cheltenham Festival’s winning-most jockey turned TV pundit Ruby Walsh and well-known journalist and broadcaster Rory Delargy for their best Cheltenham betting tips.

In the fourth episode of this year’s series, the gang have looked at the Arkle Chase ahead of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival.

RUBY WALSH

Majborough was pretty good at the weekend atLeopardstown. He wasn’t perfect but he broke the race apart. That’s what I thought, more so than the rest fell apart.

He did make a couple of niggly mistakes in the back straight – to me he never looked like falling but they just weren’t fluent jumps. You don’t want them all to be spectacular, but you’d like him to be a bit more fluent than he was when he got in close at one or two in the back straight.

He learned throughout the contest. I loved the way he powered to the line and absolutely adored the way he went through the line and down past the stands. He wasn’t weakening at the finish. For a horse having his fifth ever racecourse start, I thought it was really good.

I hoped he’d bat the ball back into Sir Gino’s court and we’d rock up in Cheltenham and say ‘which camp are you in?’.

Comparing the big two

Kargese is the only real form line between the pair. One beat her in Cheltenham last season, one beat her in Aintree last season– that’s four-year-old hurdle form, a different ball game. But people will make that argument.

Sir Gino has probably achieved more by winning a Fighting Fifth Hurdle than Majborough did by winning a Triumph. Both look exceptional – especially if you consider they’re only five-year-olds.

I’m siding with Majborough over Sir Gino.

If something goes wrong, if one of the top two don’t perform, I can see Dan Skelton’s L’Eau du Sud definitely finishing in the first three.

*Paddy also has the more traditional ante-post market where you will lose your stake if your selection doesn’t run in the race for whatever reason.