Cheltenham 2025: Supreme talent enters the book at 10/1

It's already the fifth week of our antepost journey to Cheltenham 2025, meaning we're a quarter of the way along the road to those four days in March. What is it they say about time flying again?

My latest entry to the book is a 10/1 chance for the Festival's curtain-raiser.

Gordon Elliott's ROMEO COOLIO has always shown supreme potential - pardon the pun.

The five-year-old son of Kayf Tara fetched a whopping £420k at the Cheltenham Festival sales in 2023, just days after an easy PTP victory at Belclare, and since the day he walked into Cullentra he's been held in the highest regard.

It's fair to say the dogs were barking about him during the build-up to last season. I'd heard he won a schooling bumper by a wide margin and was very much Elliott's number one in that division.

Unfortunately, he had a setback not long after and it wasn't until mid-January that he made his belated debut under rules.

He got the job done at Fairyhouse but the immediate reaction was that, given the hype, he was underwhelming. That was hard to argue against at the time, but in hindsight I think differently.

It had all the makings of a run that was desperately needed after an interrupted and likely rushed preparation, and the race-fit runner-up Sporting Glory - later bought by Romeo Coolio's owners KDTA Racing and sent to Elliott - has since franked the form.

He won a bumper next time out before finishing fourth, beaten just under six lengths, in a Grade 2 novice hurdle. He then hacked up on seasonal reappearance at Galway last month.

There was nothing more than cautious optimism, at least in most quarters, about his chances in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival a couple months later. Stable jockey Jack Kennedy opted to ride eventual third Jalon D'Oudairies and Romeo Coolio went off 18/1.

However, he massively outperformed those odds, travelling powerfully throughout the race and pulling clear with Willie Mullins' Jasmin De Vaux, who stayed on best in the final 50 yards or so. All things considered, it was a mighty effort.

I'm willing to excuse his run in the Grade 1 at Punchestown in May. It's been reported he wasn't quite right on the day and Cheltenham horses often underperform at that meeting. The aforementioned Jasmin De Vaux did likewise.

Fast-forward 185 days and Romeo Coolio made his hurdling debut at Down Royal, in a race Elliott has farmed in recent years with the likes of Envoi Allen, Ballyadam and Mighty Potter.

He was sent off 2/13f, which says all you need to know about the opposition, but he could hardly have won any easier, cantering 18 lengths clear of his nearest rival.

Despite the field, I was impressed with how easily he settled and, most of all, his jumping. He was slick over the flights and everything about the performance suggested he's a proper two-miler.

Elliott said as much after the race, before nominating the Royal Bond - now a Grade 2 - as his next target. It's believed he'll face Willie Mullins' Salvator Mundi, joint 10/1f for the Supreme, but if not I expect it to be a straightforward assignment.

Even if the Triumph Hurdle sixth does turn up, I fancy Romeo Coolio to do the business. Salvator Mundi has untapped potential, but he's just four years old, very inexperienced and fitness can't be guaranteed. Mullins is yet to run much of note so far this campaign, suggesting the dry weather has been a problem at Closutton, and I suspect his string will need their first runs as was the case last term.

Whoever the selection hopefully beats at Fairyhouse, he's highly likely to be cut into clear favouritism for the Cheltenham Festival curtain-raiser and therefore I suggest taking Betfred's industry-best odds of 10/1 now.

He's the same price for the Turners Novices' Hurdle, but I wouldn't worry about a switcheroo unless something goes seriously wrong during the season as Elliott has the likes of Jalon D'Oudairies and The Yellow Clay for that race.

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