Paddy Brennan's Road to Cheltenham: Tips, Picks and Inside Knowledge for the 2026 Festival
Paddy Brennan won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2010 on Imperial Commander.
Since then, he has transitioned into ownership and media, giving him a unique three-way perspective on the Festival that only few in the sport can match.
Ahead of the 2026 Festival, he sat down exclusively with Freebets.com to share his thoughts on the biggest week in National Hunt racing, including his value tips, Gold Cup selections, as well as the stories and analysis behind them.
Find out what Paddy had to say just weeks away from that iconic Cheltenham roar, with Free Bets, the home of the the best Cheltenham Betting Offers.
Cheltenham Festival 2026
Paddy Brennan has been thinking about Cheltenham for 12 months.
That's not a figure of speech. For the Gold Cup-winning jockey turned owner and pundit, the Festival is a constant presence; whether it's in the sales rings, parade encounter or in the studio, it remains the background of every decision made across the National Hunt season.
"From a sales perspective, when you're trying to buy a horse, the first thing you think about is whether it's a Cheltenham horse," Brennan tells Freebets.com. "The percentage rate of that working out is probably lower than 5 or 10%. But Cheltenham is literally on your mind 12 months of the year."
This year, he says, feels different to any he can remember.
"January has been the longest January there's ever been for most people around here. It's rained every day, it's been doom and gloom, but Cheltenham has been keeping people going.
"You can feel it building now. Go into the yards and it gets a bit tense. I think the build-up to this Festival is bigger than it's ever been and I think we're heading for the best Cheltenham in years."
Coming from someone who has experienced the Festival in every possible way; riding in it, winning it, owning horses in it, and now dissecting it for a living, that's not a throwaway line.
So what does he actually expect to happen? We asked him everything.
The Supreme Novices' Hurdle: Paddy's Banker of the Meeting
Paddy Brennan does not hedge when it comes to his banker.
"Last year it was The New Lion," he says. "This year it's Old Park Star — and as long as he gets to the race in one piece, he's going to be very hard to beat."
The reasons are straightforward and stack up quickly: course form, a progressive profile, and a series of performances that have left Brennan with no question marks, which, in a sport that throws question marks at you constantly, is remarkable.
"His performance at Haydock was the one that really caught my eye," Brennan explains. "I've ridden there, I know how sharp that track is, and everything was against him; the course, the way the race was run, and he still blew away a strong field.
"He's the most reliable horse in the race. I don't see any question mark over him whatsoever."
He's also fulsome in his praise of trainer Nikki Henderson, whose handling of the horse's preparation has been meticulous. "Nikki will do a gallop, everyone will see it, and as long as that goes well, he's going to be very hard to beat. He could go off a shade of odds-on and I wouldn't be surprised."
That said, Brennan is quick to frame this Supreme as one of the most exciting the Festival has seen in years.
"The last time I saw a field this competitive was when Al Ferof won, Spirit Son finished second and Sprinter Sacre third. Cue Card didn't even make the top three, that's how stacked the race was!
"Just like 15 years ago, there could be a genuine superstar finishing behind the winner, that's how good this race is. Talk the Talk's performance at the Dublin Racing Festival was extraordinary.
"Joseph O'Brien essentially said before the race that if his horse ever gets beaten, today's the day because of how we're riding him. And he still won from the back of the field. That's a masterclass."
El Cairos he respects, but cannot fully forgive. "Jack Kennedy calling him the fastest horse he's ever sat on is not something you take lightly. But when a horse makes the same mistake late in a race twice in a row, something is niggling. You forgive once. Not twice."
The wildcard? Mighty Park. "He's the real dark horse. Nobody really knows. He bolted up on debut, we haven't seen him since, and if he'd run again anywhere he'd probably be favourite. The unknown is part of his appeal."
Selection: Old Park Star.
The Turners Novices' Chase: Why Dr Steinberg Could Be in the Wrong Race
Here's where Paddy Brennan starts to diverge from the consensus, and it's worth paying attention.
Most people have been discussing Doctor Steinberg in the context of the Albert Bartlett. Paddy thinks that's a mistake.
"When I watched him win at Leopardstown, not one moment of that race made me think: Albert Bartlett," he says flatly.
"He's too keen. He's too fast. He's too bright. The Albert Bartlett is not a race for a horse like that."
He speaks from painful personal experience. "I've ridden the favourite in an Albert Bartlett, Tell Massini. He bolted on me on the way to the start. Cheltenham lights horses up, and in a three-mile novice hurdle, you need a horse that can get ugly and win ugly. Doctor Steinberg is none of that."
If, however, connections send him to the Turners, the two-mile-five Grade One novice chase on Day Two, Brennan believes the race changes entirely.
"He becomes the horse they all have to beat. No Drama This End is the most experienced, the most tried and tested horse in the race, and he's definitely the best horse in this country over that trip. But he hasn't bumped into a Doctor Steinberg yet. If Doctor Steinberg lines up in the Turners, this race gets very interesting."
The human interest subplot around No Drama This End is one Brennan clearly cares about deeply. His owner, Max McNeil, has been chasing a Festival winner for well over a decade, investing heavily, enduring the lame horses, the missed races, the near misses.
"When Max wins, everyone wins," Brennan says. "He makes it extra special just because of his character. He's outspoken, he's funny, he goes off the beaten track. Max could bring people into this sport, and I don't think people realise how important that is. If No Drama This End wins and Max gets that Festival winner he's been chasing, that's the storyline of the meeting, for me."
Selection: Doctor Steinberg (if confirmed runner)
The Albert Bartlett: Look Past the Favourite
If Doctor Steinberg ends up in the Turners rather than the Albert Bartlett, Brennan believes the three-mile novice hurdle becomes one of the most wide-open races of the Festival. And even if he does run, Brennan has a specific each-way recommendation at a big price.
"I see the Dan Skelton horses in this race as serious value," he says. "Money Garrow in particular, he won impressively at Warwick and at Windsor, and I think the race suits him perfectly."
His logic is compelling. "Take the favourite out of the Albert Bartlett, and suddenly those 20 and 25/1 shots become 12/1 shots. And go back through the history of this race, it throws up big-price winners more than any other race at the Festival. The reason is simple: three miles as a novice is incredibly hard. You want a horse that's honest, that stays well, that won't panic on the occasion. The Albert Bartlett is the most unusual, unpredictable race on the entire card."
His summary is crisp: "The Skelton horses at big prices in the Albert Bartlett. Serious each-way value."
Selection: Money Garrow (Each Way)
The Champion Hurdle: Golden Ace in a Wide-Open Race
With Lossiemouth expected to head to the Mares' Hurdle rather than the Champion Hurdle — "if she runs in the Mares', she wins, it's that simple," says Brennan.
Brennan's pick is Golden Ace.
"What a queen of a mare," he says. "She's better in the spring, she's been beautifully prepared. Jeremy Scott made the brave decision not to run at Wincanton on heavy ground this close to the Festival, and that was the right call. She makes a lot of her own luck. In a wide-open Champion Hurdle, she's the one I'd want to be on."
The wildcard is Constitution Hill. Brennan was ready to dismiss him entirely a week before speaking to Free Bets. He's less certain now.
"A week ago I'd have said no chance he runs. Now, the whispers suggest he's blossoming, the camp are much happier. I think he'll run. But if he finishes fifth or sixth tomorrow night in a flat race, beaten a long way, the answer is right there."
His reading of the situation is nuanced: "Go back to The New Lion at last year's Festival. I know they say he wasn't beating Constitution Hill, but Golden Ace was going better than both of them anyway. In a Championship race with questions over the favourite — that's where she thrives."
Selection: Golden Ace
The Cheltenham Gold Cup: "If I Could Ride Any Horse in the Race, I Want Him"
Paddy Brennan won the Cheltenham Gold Cup. He knows better than anyone what the race demands of horse and rider alike.
"There is no inch given in the Gold Cup," he says. "Three miles two furlongs at proper pace, no let-up, nothing given. It's different to any race you ride in. And it can leave a mark on even the greatest horses, that's what makes it the pinnacle."
This year, he believes the race is as open as he has ever seen it. The big names all carry question marks.
Galopin Des Champs: "What a horse. What a career. But I genuinely don't think he can win the Gold Cup again. He owes nobody anything, his wellbeing is the priority."
Fact to File: "He has a massive chance if he runs, but three miles two furlongs up a Cheltenham hill in a field of 18? That's a different proposition to anything he's done. Does he travel well enough in a race that big?"
Gaelic Warrior: "Too keen for the Gold Cup. I'd be very surprised if he doesn't run in the Ryanair, that's where he belongs. And if he's in the Ryanair, he's an ace card."
The Jukebox Man: "The one I took out of Kempton as most likely to thrive here. He was ten lengths clear at the last in the Albert Bartlett two years ago and just got caught, which tells you he stays. The King George didn't suit him at all and he still won. Cheltenham is a different story."
But when pressed to pick one horse, Paddy doesn't hesitate long.
"Haiti Couleurs. Put a complete line through Haydock. He had a very hard prep run at Newbury, people didn't realise how hard, and then within two weeks he was at Haydock, which is the sharpest track going and downhill to the first. Everything was against him that day. His Welsh National performance was incredible. He's got Cheltenham course form, he won a Festival last year, he stays, he jumps."
Then he adds something that resonates beyond tips and prices.
"Sean Bowen has never had a Cheltenham Festival winner. He's never had a horse good enough until now. His best chance, his only realistic chance, is in the Gold Cup on this horse. When Sean Bowen wins at Cheltenham, everyone will feel it. I really hope it happens."
Selection: Haiti Couleurs
The Gold Cup, Personally
We asked Brennan what it actually felt like crossing the winning line on Imperial Commander in 2010.
"Life changing," he says. "No other winner, no other moment in my whole career was life changing. None of it. But winning the Gold Cup changed my life. That's the best way to sum it up."
The feeling lasted, he says, for years, until a famous fall on Cue Card in a subsequent Gold Cup brought it crashing back to earth.
He's reflective about what that says about the race itself. "I rode over a thousand winners. Only two horses I ever rode got past a rating of 170 — Imperial Commander and Cue Card. You take that for granted at the time. You don't realise what you're doing won't come around again. It's only later that you appreciate it."
It's that perspective, one you can only get from someone who has actually done it, that makes Paddy's read on this Festival worth taking seriously.
Paddy Brennan's Cheltenham 2026 Summary
| Race | Selection | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Supreme Novices' Hurdle | Old Park Star | Banker of the meeting |
| Turners Novices' Chase | Watch Doctor Steinberg's entry | Could change race entirely if he runs |
| Albert Bartlett | Money Garrow (each-way) | 25/1 currently, serious Dan Skelton value |
| Champion Hurdle | Golden Ace | Wide-open race, she makes her own luck |
| Cheltenham Gold Cup | Haiti Couleurs | "The ride I'd want in the race" |
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