The Racing Post's Graeme Rodway has actually selected his best bet for the Champion Hurdle, as well as a horse that could be a wise each-way alternative at a double-figure cost.

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Champion Hurdle Betting Tips

16:00 Cheltenham - The New Lion @ 5/2
16:00 Cheltenham - Poniros @ 12/1

16:00 Cheltenham - The New Lion @ 5/2

The Champion Hurdle has actually been on the program for The New Lion since he roamed home to land the Challow Hurdle at Newbury in December 2024 and his time has lastly arrived.

The Dan Skelton-trained seven-year-old went on to land the Turners Novices' Hurdle over 2m5f at this meeting last year, when he showed a terrible turn of foot to come from behind The Yellow Clay going into the straight and win going away. That marked him down as a horse who has lots of speed.

The New Lion has actually been looked after given that then, running just twice and both over 2m, a journey which looks particular to draw out the very best in him. However, not everything went right on his reappearance in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle, when he fell at the second last and was beaten by last year's winner of this race, Golden Ace.

It was back to the drawing board for the Skelton team, however they built The New Lion back up and he revealed no ill impacts from that fall when once again showing his hallmark turn of speed to land the International Hurdle on Trials day at this course. He came from last-to-first in a gradually run race then.

He beat Nemean Lion by only a length and a half, however is value for a lot further than that winning margin judging by his finishing sectionals. He ran the second-from-last furlong that day in a time of 12.91 seconds, which is rapid for a hurdler, and only won by a small margin because of the slow speed.

A much stronger gallop in a Champ Hurdle will highlight all sort of improvement from The New Lion and this is his day. It's also the Skeltons' day and they can land their very first Champion Hurdle.

16:00 Cheltenham - Poniros @ 12/1

If there is a horse who might disturb the applecart at big odds then it's most likely in 2015's Triumph Hurdle winner Poniros, who has actually run just two times since and is open to the most improvement of any runner in the field. He is the youngest horse in the race and this will be only his fourth difficulty start.

Poniros won last season's Triumph on his hurdling launching, which is rather a task, and it wasn't a weak race either. The runner-up Lulamba has because gone on to win numerous races over fences this season.

Lulamba got his vengeance on Poniros at Punchestown, by my choice still ran a cracker to end up second and he returned from the best part of a year off the track to complete third behind Brighterdaysahead at Leopardstown last month. He had a quiet ride and didn't have a tough race.

A lot more buttons will be pressed this time and Poniros has actually currently shown that he is efficient in a highly run race around this course. He might take a massive step forward following his run in the Irish Champion Hurdle and may easily run into a location behind The New Lion, so is an each-way bet.

Tipster's Recent Winners

Graeme Rodway nailed 2 winners from three choices in his last column for bet365 readers and hit the layers with another double at Naas in the Racing Post on Wednesday.

View our Cheltenham Festival NAPs and Best Bets on website.

Take an appearance at the rest of our Cheltenham Day 1 pointers.

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This post was written by a partner sports writer through Spotlight Sports Group. All chances showed on this page were proper at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or modification at any time.