The 2024 Cheltenham Festival was a hugely one-sided affair, with Irish trainers winning 18 of the 27 races staged at the meeting last year.
A whopping 12 of the 14 Grade 1 contests went their way, forcing Betway Sports and numerous other sportsbooks into making sizeable payouts to Irish punters.
Champion trainer Willie Mullins had the bookmakers running for cover, winning nine races to take his career tally to more than 100 at the March showpiece.
The fallout from the meeting was brutal, with several respected pundits claiming that the leading Irish trainers were streets ahead of their British counterparts in terms of talent.
There has been widespread criticism of the National Hunt programme in Britain, with many stakeholders claiming it is not fit for purpose.
However, results over the past few weeks suggest Britain’s prospects of enjoying a successful 2025 Cheltenham Festival are reasonably promising.
Trainer Nicky Henderson will have several fancied runners at the meeting including Constitution Hill, who looks a banker bet to win the Champion Hurdle.
Henderson has endured a roller-coaster ride with the horse, who overcame a long lay-off to record an impressive victory in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day.
Constitution Hill left the highly-touted Lossiemouth trailing in his wake to leave Henderson waxing lyrical after the festive showdown.
Henderson said: “The great thing is that he’s back! He’s back where he belongs. He’s always been capable of being back and I do think he’s nearly as good as he was.
“It was great to see a crowd like this today and I think they appreciate good horses. Horses like him are special and they don’t come around a lot. Sprinter Sacre was one and he is another – he is seriously so talented.”
Constitution Hill’s eighth Grade 1 victory forced the bookies to take evasive action, with the horse now rated as a 4/5 shot to regain the title he won in 2023.
Henderson will have several other fancied runners at the Cheltenham Festival including Sir Gino, who was another impressive winner for the stable over the festive period.
He produced a fabulous display on his first start over fences in the Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase and will be extremely tough to beat in the Arkle Novices’ Chase in March.
Jockey Nico De Boinville sat motionless as Sir Gino powered clear of his rivals in the home straight and he backed the horse to take high rank over bigger obstacles this season.
“He was a bit sketchy over the first, but by the time we turned down the side towards the open ditch, it all clicked,” De Boinville said.
“He’s so quick back on the ground after taking off that he’s just taking lengths in the air. We knew he had the engine – it was just a case of whether he could put it all together.
“He’s got an enormous engine, but it’s amazing round here as the fences come up really fast and you have to stay and you have to be able to jump at speed and think quickly.
“I’d say he’s exceeded my expectations and I’d say he’s progressed for (jumping) a fence as well.”
Lulamba (Triumph Hurdle) and Jonbon (Champion Chase) are among several other horses from Henderson’s yard who could run big races at Cheltenham.
With other British trainers also having fancied runners at the meeting, their Irish counterparts may find it difficult to match last year’s 18-9 scoreline.
However, it is debatable whether their collective efforts will be enough to win the head-to-head battle in the winners’ standings for the first time since 2015.
