Rhys Williams' Cheltenham Festival Tips: 3 Selections For Day 1
Horse racing expert Rhys Williams is sharing his best selections for the Cheltenham Festival.
Rhys has been a racing analyst for over 10 years, working for At The Races and most recently as a tipster for Betfair where his tipping column had a 31% ROI over four and a half years.
He often focuses away from the front end of the market, finding angles that aren't evident to most.
Thanks to last week's 66/1 each-way win at Thurles (Bon Bon Fizz), Rhys has returned a profit of 67.93 points and his profit and loss record for the year stands at +18.43 points from 49.5 points staked.
Here are Rhys' tips for the opening day of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival, using the most up-to-date odds from the best horse racing betting sites.
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13:20 Cheltenham: El Cairos - 1pt Each-Way @ 9/1
The Supreme is likely to be run at a strong pace and I think that can set up the race ideally for El Cairos.
He showed plenty of talent in bumpers last season, when ridden by David Maxwell and has continued to do so over hurdles since being bought by Gordon Elliott.
The manner in which he took off around the outside of rivals on hurdling debut at Leopardstown was very taking, before being unfortunate to come down at the last.
The last hurdle was once again an issue at Thurles last time, when he crashed through it but he stayed upright this time to win comfortably.
He faces much tougher opposition than he did in either of those starts, but the way that he has travelled through the race and then quickened in bumpers and over hurdles, suggests he has the necessary talent for this level and the strong pace is ideal for him.
There is the concern that he’s seemingly switched off when taking the last in both races over hurdles, but hopefully that’s a case of a loss of concentration due to finding it so easy and he’ll be more focused this time.
Any 7/1 or bigger appeals.
Rhys' Selection 1: 13:20 Cheltenham - El Cairos - 1pt Each-Way
16:00 Cheltenham: Anzadam - 0.5pts Each-Way @ 22/1
After he chucked away the Fighting Fifth, I didn’t expect to be backing Anzadam in this race, but he’s reached a price where I can’t get away from doing so given the ability that he has.
He looked to be travelling best approaching two out in the Fighting Fifth, but then didn’t seem to want the battle with Golden Ace and finished second.
While it’s concerning that he did completely take hold of Patrick Mullins at Leopardstown next time, I thought Anzadam ended up doing well to finish as close to Lossiemouth and Brighterdaysahead as he did considering the mid-race charge to the front.
It’s easy to forgive the run last time at the Dublin Racing Festival as I think he doesn’t want the ground that testing, and he wasn’t given a hard ride once it was clear he couldn’t get to the front pair so that run likely won’t have taken as much out of him as it did those two.
It’s interesting that they have put a tongue tie on him for the first time since he joined Willie Mullins, as he ran in a tongue tie on both starts in France.
Maybe that will see him finish off the race stronger and I expect the plan will be to try to deliver him with a challenge as late as possible so he won’t be there as early as he was at Newcastle.
It might be that Anzadam’s temperament will always hold him back from being able to transfer all of his ability into results.
However, I think he’s overpriced in a below-par Champion Hurdle and any 16/1 or bigger appeals.
Rhys' Selection 2: 16:00 Cheltenham - Anzadam - 0.5pts Each-Way
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17:20 Cheltenham: Will Do - 0.5pts Each-Way @ 25/1
Will Do finished third in this race last season and I think the market is underestimating his chance of going two places better this time around.
He was kept wide throughout in the race last year, and considering that as well as the fact he often jumped to the left, I thought he did well to finish as close to Haiti Couleurs as he did.
His form since then has generally been disappointing, but much of that has been on testing ground or over shorter and he ran very well on yielding to soft ground at Fairyhouse earlier this season over 3m 6f.
He was probably in front sooner than ideal that day and was picked off near the line by Better Times Ahead, who was subsequently beaten a head in the Thyestes.
I think the return to quicker ground and this test of stamina will be more suitable for Will Do, and the depth of experience that he has over fences is a positive for him against some far less experienced novices.
Any 16/1 or bigger appeals.
Rhys' Selection 3: 17:20 Cheltenham - Will Do - 0.5pts Each-Way
All odds correct at time of publish.
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