Thursday at Cheltenham Festival offers a double helping of top-class action, with the Ryanair Chase and the Stayers’ Hurdle both offering hyper-competitive Grade 1 action.
The expert team at The Winners Enclosure has picked out three tips for Thursday’s action and is backing them in an Each Way accumulator. All odds are subject to change.
Cheltenham Accumulator Betting Tips for Thursday
EACH WAY ACCA
13:20 Sixandahalf
15:20 Protektorat
16:00 Teahupoo
- An Acca with these selections pays at approximately 59/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK HERE TO ADD IT TO YOUR BETSLIP.
More Cheltenham Festival tips can be found over at The Winners Enclosure, including specific tips for day 3 of the festival as well as daily accumulators, Lucky 15, and Dark Horse picks.
13:20 Sixandahalf
Every owner with a runner in the opening race of the day will hope that their charge can emulate Golden Ace, who won this race last year before going on to a dramatic Champion Hurdle victory. However, the first challenge is to win this race.
Our pick is Gavin Cromwell’s SIXANDAHALF, who has already had plenty of racecourse experience despite being just five years old. Following two good runs last spring in bumpers, she switched codes to race on the Flat, and proved progressive throughout the season to finish with an impressive handicap of 94.
She placed third in September in the extremely valuable Irish Caeserwitch. Just three months later, she looked a natural over hurdles when making her first and only start to date over obstacles, running all over a fourteen-runner field to win by 12 lengths without breaking a sweat.
Her mix of stamina and pace should suit her well here. She’s used to large fields from her Flat days, and she goes on any ground.
15:20 Protektorat
It’s not often you can back a previous winner at odds this attractive, but the market appears to be focusing on lesser exposed, and lesser proven, young horses rather than the 10-year-old who has been there and done that.
PROTEKTORAT‘s victory in this race last year showed Dan Skelton’s horse at the best of his ability; ridden patiently, he proved his stamina to pull clear after the last.
Since that win, he’s run four times, with his best performance coming last time out at Windsor in a prep run aiming to tune him up for this.
Expect him to be ridden near the pace; the harder they go, the better for Protektorat. If he can be with the leaders at the bottom of the hill, he’ll have every chance of winning again.
16:00 Teahupoo
As the saying goes, don’t change a winning formula, and that’s exactly the approach trainer Gordon Elliott has taken with last year’s winner TEAHUPOO here.
Last season, he came here having had just a single prep run over an inadequate two-mile four trip at Fairyhouse, and he’s done the same thing this year. While the result wasn’t quite so impressive, a second place instead of a win, he was beaten by Mares’ Hurdle winner Lossiemouth, who simply outpaced him in the closing stages.
Stepping back up in trip and adding in the Cheltenham hill will see him in a much better light. He is the highest-rated horse in the field at 164 and beat second favourite Home By The Lee by over six lengths on both occasions they raced last spring.
Last year, he exerted his authority over the race after the last. This year, we hope to see the same result.
Cheltenham Day 3 Accumulator Betting Tips
EACH WAY ACCA
13:20 Sixandahalf
15:20 Protektorat
16:00 Teahupoo
- An Acca with these selections pays at approximately 59/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK HERE TO ADD IT TO YOUR BETSLIP.
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.
Read More
- Cheltenham Tips: Paddy Power’s Epic Thursday Cheat Sheet for day 3 of the 2025 Festival
- Ruby Walsh’s Thursday cheat sheet for day 3 of the 2025 Festival
- Patrick Mullins’ best Thursday picks on day 3 include a 17/2 shout
- Paddy’s Eliminator! Our new free-to-play horse-racing game ahead of the Cheltenham Festival
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