The first Cheltenham meeting of the NH season!
For National Hunt racing fans, the Welsh Racing Festival at Chepstow whet the appetite and now the excitement further builds with the opening meeting of the season at Cheltenham Racecourse - The Showcase Meeting. Whilst this is often a stepping stone to better things for many horses (so bring your notebook) you can also see some great performances here from horses primed for the day. I think I have found one that fits the latter category and he looks a great bet in here.
If you’re just discovering my content, I’m RacingGav and I’m the resident horse racing tipster here at Betting.co.uk. I produce four to five free to access articles per week for this website and the rest of my content is over in my Discord server - There are more details on that at the bottom of this article! Like this article, my content here is predominately based around daily betting tips. However, I also cover antepost betting, big race trends and even educational pieces.
If you’re reading this article, you’ll likely be interested in the antepost betting tips I already have posted for the 2025/26 National Hunt season. This includes a selection for the
King George VI Chase at Kempton
on Boxing Day as well as a selection in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival and a couple for the Aintree Grand National in April. As always, the earlier you can get on, the more likely you are to have the best value!
Betting advice
- 14:25 Cheltenham -
Norman Fletcher
@ 9/1 (4 places) -
1pt each way
Back Norman Fletcher at William Hill today!
At the time of writing, just two bookmakers are offering 9/1 with four places, so I have looked at their sign up offers to decide which brand to recommend today. And William Hill ticks that box today. If you
bet £10, you’ll get £40 in free bets. That is fantastic value and could set you up nicely for the weekend if you are not already a William Hill customer!
Norman Fletcher can put last year’s result right!
Today’s selection competed in this exact race last year and it was an agonising watch for his backers that day. In this article, I’ll be explaining what happened that day and explaining why I think he can go one better this time around. Therefore, make sure you read on!
Norman Fletcher should have won this race last year!
As touched upon above, Norman Fletcher ran in this very race last year and in my opinion, he really should have won it. He was in the process of running a lovely race last year when he was short of room and hampered at the third last. He then managed to run into an awful lot of trouble before finally getting out in the open. By this time, the eventual winner had already kicked for home and he had a mountain to climb.
The winner - Impero, started to wander around and think about it all as the going got tough. Whereas in complete contrast, Norman Fletcher was knuckling down and powering up the hill. Norman Fletcher made ground on the leader all the way to the line but just ran out of track, being beaten less than a length as they went past the winning post.
Without being hampered and short of room, Norman Fletcher would have been closer to Impero at the business end and that was likely the difference between winning and losing on the day. That said, Impero was rated 119 that day and he has since won off marks of 125 and 129, subsequently carrying a rating of 136 - So there is no shame in that defeat at all anyway.
This season, they have given him a prep run and that could make all the difference!
Last season, Norman Fletcher came here fresh from a 191-day break, so it was quite a remarkable performance considering. However, what I find extremely interesting is that he then won second time out at Huntingdon despite suffering a 3lb rise in the handicap for his performance here. If you look deeper back through his record, you’ll see an interesting pattern:
- Second Bumper run - Won
- Second Bumper run after a break (fourth Bumper run) - Won
- Second completed Hurdles start - Won
- Second start last season - Won
As you can see, the second run tends to be the time to catch him at his best. Therefore, I find it very eye-catching that after tackling this race first time out last season, they have given him a run ahead of coming here this time around. They sent Norman Fletcher to The Welsh Racing Festival at Chepstow earlier this month and he went off like a scalded cat in front.
To many, that could have been viewed as a poor ride from James Turner. However, I wonder whether that was in fact a perfect preparation run for this race… blowing away the cobwebs by going very hard before weakening out of contention. That run will ensure he is fit as a fiddle and could be part of a bigger plan (this race) for the stable.
The Twiston-Davies stable often come out swinging at this time of the year, so they should be kept on side!
I love this meeting at Cheltenham, however, you do need to tread carefully here. Whilst there will be some fantastic racing across the two days and you will see some superstars in the making, for many this will be a stepping stone. Some of these horses will be having their first run of the season and will need it from a fitness perspective. Some will be using it as a run to lower their handicap mark ahead of targets deeper into the season and much more. Let’s just say not everybody is coming here with the intention of winning on the day…
Whilst it’s not a guaranteed tactic for success, it can often pay to keep an eye on certain yards at these meetings early in the season. Whilst some of the bigger operations will be using this as a stepping stone, smaller operations (or at least those that lack the same superstar firepower), will be targeting this meeting. Nigel Twiston-Davies who is now partnered with his son Willy, is one of these trainers who like to strike early in the season. Let’s take a look at some statistics on his runners by month: -
- September 2023 - 6/18 - 33% strike rate
- October 2023 - 16/53 - 30% strike rate
- November 2023 - 15/51 - 29% strike rate
- September 2024 - 7/21 - 33% strike rate
- October 2024 - 16/59 - 27% strike rate
- September 2025 - 4/17 - 24% strike rate
- October 2025 - 11/37 - 30% strike rate
As you can see, in these early stages of the National Hunt season, they have their stable firing. For some context, Nigel’s final five seasons under his own name saw him produce 273 winners from 1772 winners, a strike rate of 15%, so these months mentioned above are well above average. I think Norman Fletcher can continue this fine record for them.
Can Norman Fletcher get redemption for last year?
For me, there is a huge list of positives for Norman Fletcher. He was fantastic in this race last year and unlucky not to win, so we know the track and trip will be to his liking. The stable get their runners firing this time of year and they have ensured they got a run into him before coming here. He runs here off a mark of 123, which is the same mark he won on at Huntingdon last season. Finally, that race came second time out and he has an extremely strong record when running for the second time, which makes him even more interesting today.
Playing devil’s advocate, the run at Chepstow was only 12 days prior to this run, which is a risk, especially as he went very fast and hard that day. There is a chance he’s still feeling the effects of that race and doesn’t perform to his best but the stable will know how he has come out of that race and I’m sure they wouldn’t be running him if he showed any ill effects from it. He did also manage to get beat in this race last year and that was also off a 3lb lower mark and with James Turner claiming 3lb more then. That said, you would like to think both horse and jockey would have improved since then.
All elements considered, I think 9/1 looks a fantastic price with four places being paid. This is extremely competitive and with some rain coming down ahead of this meeting, it’s an extremely deep field of 20 that will head to post. There could be some lovely horses in this line up and a good few that are ahead of their marks and primed for the day. However, there will also be some just using this as a stepping stone, so whilst we won’t know exactly who, you can rule out a good few.
If we bump into one or two smart horses on the up, I can live with that. However, I’d be shocked and disappointed if Norman Fletcher could finish in the first four here. I’d also like to hope he himself is one of those horses on the up and that he could take some beating. I’m very sweet on his chances and whilst I was briefly tempted to really get stuck into him, the competitiveness of this race and the pretty sharp turnaround are going to keep me grounded. A solid 1pt each way bet feels like they right call here.
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