Cheltenham 2025: Go for Gold with 20/1 rising Star

One of the biggest races of the season so far was staged in Ireland last weekend and the result has informed my next antepost tip for Cheltenham 2025.

We're aiming high on Week 6, as I suggest a 20/1 chance for the Festival's most prestigious event.

There were multiple takeaways from that thrilling renewal of the John Durkan at Punchestown on Sunday.

Willie Mullins' Fact To File, who landed his third Grade 1, has been cut into 5/2 favourite at Betfred for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. I'm a huge fan of his, but that's short enough at this stage of the season.

Galopin Des Champs, who was just under three lengths behind his stablemate in third, has stayed solid at 7/2. I thought it was a huge performance over an inadequate trip, following an interrupted preparation, and it would be no surprise at all if he did the hat-trick in March.

James Mangan's six-year-old Spillane's Tower ran a blinder to finish runner-up by only half a length. He was reportedly far from ready, too, so dare I say he can be marked up a bit. He's now 9/1 for the Gold Cup.

If anything, Fastorslow is the one who blotted his copybook. Punchestown is his playground and Martin Brassil's eight-year-old, who was sent off 6/4f, was a bit disappointing back in fourth. He's got something to prove now.

Another that emerged well from the race was sitting pretty in his box at Henry de Bromhead's yard in Waterford.

MONTY'S STAR, a half-brother to 2020 Gold Cup fourth Monalee, received a couple of major form boosts from the JP McManus 1-2.

He was runner-up to Fact To File in the Brown Advisory this March and occupied the same position, beaten under a length, behind Spillane's Tower in another Grade 1 at the Punchestown Festival a month later. That form looks very strong today.

Of course, he will need to improve if he's to keep pace with, let alone improve past that pair, but there's good reason to expect that can happen.

First of all, the Walk In The Park gelding is as lightly-raced as anything in the division. He ran just once in a bumper, thrice in novice hurdles and only four times over fences last season.

De Bromhead has taken his time with Monty's Star and continues to promise more to come. In a recent stable tour with AtTheRaces, the Knockeen handler said this of his Gold Cup hopeful: "We were delighted with what he did last season as he was such a big, immature baby and he can only improve. We've always loved him."

There's few, if any better than De Bromhead at bringing these staying chasers to the boil. Minella Indo left his novice form behind when stepping into open company and landing the big one in 2021 for the same owner (Barry Maloney) as Monty's Star. A Plus Tard - victorious the following year having finished second to Minella Indo - did likewise.

Jungle Boogie is another example. He had just three runs under his belt before joining De Bromhead in November last year as a nine-year-old about to turn 10, and he went from a 15-length defeat in a Grade 2 over two miles at Cork to running a blinder in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. He was last of the six finishers and beaten 21 lengths, but he was catching the eye before a bad mistake at the third-last and even so, he overperformed under the circumstances.

It's been reported we won't see Monty's Star until Christmas time, which leads you to believe he'll line up in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown. That's a possibility, but I'm hoping he goes for the Grade 3 at Tramore on New Year's Day that Al Boum Photo used to farm and De Bromhead has won for the last two years with the aforementioned Jungle Boogie and Minella Indo.

He'd be hard to beat there, assuming none of the Gold Cup principals showed up, before taking on the likes of Galopin Des Champs and Fact To File in the Irish Gold Cup at the Dublin Racing Festival in February and then, all being well, the Cheltenham edition. That's the hope, anyway.

He may well end up an even bigger price if he does go the Savills route, for it'd be a fair ask to put it up to race-fit rivals he needs to progress past, but I'd like to think I'll be very happy with 20/1 come the spring.

Find more Cheltenham Tips here at Betfred Insights