Cheltenham Festival 2026 day one: Upsets galore as Lossiemouth, Kargese star on Champion Day
The biggest week in the British horse racing calendar is underway, and there was plenty for the Cheltenham crowd to roar about as the iconic festival lived up to its dramatic reputation on the opening day.
Here, Sports News Blitz writer Charlie Fawcett reviews all the action, as it happened, on Champion Day 2026.
Supreme Novices’ Hurdle: Winner – Old Park Star
The Cheltenham Festival got underway, as ever, with the first Grade 1 of the week: the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.
Well-fancied market leader Old Park Star got the job done in the end, but it wasn’t as straightforward as many may have expected.
The huge market-mover prior to the race, Sober Glory, led the field from the off and would have most likely gone on to steal the spoils had he not fumbled the last hurdle.
However, the favourite was there to capitalise on the error, and Old Park Star got up to give Nicky Henderson and Nico de Boinville their first victory of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival.
Arkle Novices’ Chase: Winner – Kargese
It was the shock of the opening day next as a contest that had been labelled as a match between Lulamba and Kopek Des Bordes saw 7/1-shot Kargese steal the show and give Willie Mullins his first victory of the week.
Despite Lulamba and Kargese being the leading pair throughout, a fumble two from the finish by the favourite meant that it would be Kargese and Kopek Des Bordes to the line.
An almighty leap from Kargese over the last meant that Danny Mullins’ mount had all the momentum to give yet another Grade 1 victory to the Mullins team at the festival.
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Juvenile Handicap Hurdle: Winner – Saratoga
With the first huge field of this year’s festival racing away, it was an ultra-competitive race that went down to the wire.
Over the last, the 9/1 shot came through, with Nico de Boinville picking up yet another victory for the Henderson team – this time not on a market favourite, but certainly a highly tipped runner nonetheless.
In the final race over hurdles before the featured contest of the day, it was another thriller, with yet another favourite beaten at the festival.
Ultima Handicap Chase: Winner – Jonnywho
The biggest-priced winner of the Cheltenham Festival so far came in the Ultima as the market favourite, Jagwar, had to settle for second place.
It was a contest that was always expected to be competitive, but 18/1 Jonnywho shot through the massive field to shock the punters at Cheltenham.
Indeed, he was the third-most fancied runner from the O’Neill stable for this particular contest, but Jonnywho stole the show against all odds.
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Champion Hurdle: Winner – Lossiemouth
As ever, my favourite race of the week did not disappoint.
It didn’t quite live up to the absolute carnage on show in the 2025 edition, but it was far from a disappointing contest.
Highly fancied gelding, The New Lion, never really got into the race, which was certainly seen as a shock.
Last year’s winner Golden Ace also looked beaten with a couple of hurdles still to take.
Towards the conclusion, it looked as though Lossiemouth would have to fight it out with her former Mares’ Hurdle foe Brighterdaysahead, yet the Mullins runner (and favourite for the race) got up and won extremely impressively, putting a huge gap on the field.
Sun Racing Plate: Winner – Madara
Back-to-back favourite wins for the first time this festival was the name of the game in the 4.40.
Dan and Harry Skelton found their first win at Cheltenham 2026 with a favourite who came through a packed-out field to take the lion’s share of the spoils in the end.
The 3/1-shot Madara was not in brilliant form on the way into Cheltenham but turned up for the big occasion to cap off ITV’s day 1 coverage with a favourite winner.
National Hunt Challenge Cup: Winner – Holloway Queen
Historically, the non-televised 5.20 at the Cheltenham Festival is a race many punters tend to avoid.
However, congratulations have to be in order for anybody that picked out the 12/1 shot that went on to win it as Holloway Queen sparked one final upset for day one.
There were many disappointing runners in this final race, with Wade Out under the stewardship of Sean Bowen having to make up some late ground.
However, after the slow start, another circuit may have been required to get that fancied runner involved.
Overall, the festival had a fantastic start in 2026, with all of the associated sporting drama on full show.
There’s plenty more top-class racing to come too, and it’s difficult not to be excited for the rest of the week’s action.
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