Cheltenham 2025: Ryanair Chase Trends You Should Not Ignore
The Ryanair Chase is always a competitive affair on Day Three of the Cheltenham Festival, and many will be banking on this year's favourite with betting sites, Fact To File, to make it successive wins at the Festival.
Race trends can be a valuable tool for punters in choosing a potential winner, but it's worth knowing which to follow and which to ignore.
Here, we sift through the Ryanair Chase race trends and highlight the most important ones.
Irish Raiders Rule
Since the Ryanair was introduced to the Cheltenham Festival in 2005, English trainers farmed the race by winning the first 11 renewals.
That quickly changed, though, and since 2016, the English have won the race just twice, with Frodon in 2019 and Protektorat last year.
Willie Mullins has racked up five wins in the race, while Henry de Bromhead has won it twice, and it’s fair to say that after a rough start, the Irish have made the Ryanair their own in recent years.
Class Prevails
The Ryanair is the same as any other race at the Cheltenham Festival, where class usually rises to the top, as this stat shows.
In the last 12 runnings of the race, 11 winners were rated 162 or higher, which suggests that there have not been many shocks in the race.
This is a stat that fans of the Venetia Williams-trained Djelo would want to ignore as he enters the race with a rating of 162.
Course Form A Big Help
Cheltenham is a unique course, and horses that have run well at Prestbury Park throughout their career tend to return and do the same at the Festival.
Each of the previous 12 winners had at least two previous runs at Cheltenham, and nine of those winners had already won at the track.
This is a stat that Il Est Francais and Spillane's Tower have to overcome as they are yet to race around Cheltenham.
Seven To Nine-Year-Olds Have Dominated
A significant trend is the age bracket of successful horses in the Ryanair Chase.
In the past 12 years, all winners have been between seven and nine years old.
Taranis was the only six-year-old to win the race in 2007, and the last 10-year-old to have won it was in 2011.
Although three 10-year-olds did win between 2006 and 2011, it has become less likely in recent times.
So it’s clear that it’s best to focus on horses aged between seven and nine in the Ryanair Chase, a stat that Protektorat fans won't want to see.
Mullins The Man To Deliver
Willie Mullins is the leading trainer in the Ryanair Chase with five wins, and he has won the race with some top-class horses such as Vautour, Un De Sceaux, Min and Allaho.
This year, his main hope is Fact To File, who currently trades at 7/4 with betting apps and is sure to be popular with punters after bolting up in the Brown Advisory at Cheltenham last year.
The JP McManus-owned gelding has been campaigned as a Gold Cup horse all year, but with Galopin Des Champs seemingly unbeatable in the blue riband event, he is likely to be targeted at the Ryanair, and he will aim to give Willie Mullins his sixth win in the race.
