Supreme Novices’ Hurdle 2026 Tips: Two picks for Tuesday’s opener

The Cheltenham Festival is here and Tuesday’s curtain-raising meeting is a humdinger. As always, the festival begins with the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and all the ingredients are in place for a superb opener. 

This race has unearthed some outstanding talents over the years, including the likes of Altior, Shishkin and Vautour.  Twelve horses have stood their ground and there are talented novices everywhere you look, so we are going to learn plenty and perhaps a star will be born. Read on for our Supreme Novices' Hurdle tips.

Our in-house Horse Racing tipster Owen McMahon has gone through the card for Tuesday's Races and made a selection for every race. Read who he's backing and why with our Cheltenham Day 1 Tips. Add to that former Jockey Katie Walsh has passed on her Cheltenham Tuesday Tips to us here at Betfred.

Which Park will go off favourite?

The Supreme market has been intriguing in the build-up to the Cheltenham Festival. Old Park Star has been a warm order over the past month for Nicky Henderson, who has sent out many of the race’s most impressive winners over the years.

He looked an archetypal Supreme candidate when bolting up in the Rossington Main at Haydock, catching his trainer by surprise. That was a taking performance, but there are others who have run to a similar level.

Old Park Star may even be pressed for favouritism with the Willie Mullins-trained Mighty Park, a big talking horse on the preview night circuit.

It is difficult to gauge his level of ability after he bolted up in a weak maiden hurdle, but the vibes have been positive and he comes from a respected source.

Time for Talk to walk the walk

It may be worth shunning the top two in the early betting for Talk The Talk, who is a proven Grade 1 performer for Joseph O’Brien.

Talk The Talk is unlucky not to be arriving at the festival with two wins at the highest level on his CV. He would have won a festive Grade 1 if he didn’t fall at the last when having the race at his mercy, but to his credit he atoned for that with an impressive victory at the Dublin Racing Festival despite his narrow margin of victory.

He was left poorly positioned in a slowly run affair and did well to get up on the line. A more truly run race can only benefit him and he surely won’t be far away.

Could Glory await for Sober?

If there is a dark one in the line-up then it is surely the Philip Hobbs and Johnson White-trained Sober Glory.

This horse is something of a winning machine and his last-time-out victory in a Newbury novice hurdle was an impressive display on the clock, given he recorded a faster time than Tutti Quanti did when hacking up in the William Hill Hurdle later on the card.

Sober Glory must prove he can do something similar on a quicker surface, but the talent is evidently there and he is dangerous to underestimate.

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