Aidan Coleman: “Galopin Des Champs should be 1/10!”

With the Cheltenham Festival fast approaching, our friends at bet365 have got the thoughts of retired jockey Aidan Coleman on the upcoming 2025 meeting at Prestbury Park...

Coleman, a four time winner at the Festival, retired earlier this season after a horrendous knee injury and while he is still coming to terms with the fact he will never ride at Cheltenham again, just like anyone involved with racing he is itching to see the stars strut their stuff at racing's most famous amphitheatre. This season of course the most famous star is two time Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs as he hunts history in his third crack at the biggest prize in jumps racing.

I think he should be 1/10, I really do! You’re pretty much backing him to jump around, which isn’t always straight forward but if he does that, he’ll win.

Aidan Coleman is clearly confident in the mighty Closutton raider's credentials and with the field looking weak behind him, it's easy to see why. "it’s going to be a punters festival." Coleman continued when quizzed on how he thought some more favourites at the Festival will get on. "Tracks are very important. Horses are all individuals and so are tracks. It’s easy to back good horses because they’re more consistent and they turn up more often than not, but tracks are important and that’s why I think Jonbon is beatable around Cheltenham. Whether he's beatable in this Champion Chase, probably not, because I can't see who’s good enough to beat him, to be honest. But in my strong opinion, he's not at his best around Cheltenham.”

Coleman of course knows what it takes to win at the Festival, with two of his four wins coming aboard the wonderful mare Put The Kettle On for Henry De Bromhead. Despite his assertion this year's Festival is destined to be one for favourite backers, his victories aboard her in the Arkle and Champion Chase prove that underdogs can have their days in the sun too.

"She was always overlooked in the betting, the poor thing wasn't even the best mare in Henry de Bromhead’s stable at the time, which is crazy, because Honeysuckle was there, so she was the bridesmaid in that respect." Coleman recalled about the star mare who was as tough as teak and loved it around Cheltenham, yet another example of course form being crucial.

"To get two festival winners on someone who is an outsider brings great memories as well.”