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Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle 2026: Cheltenham Festival Betting Preview
Race Details:
Date: 12 March 2026
Grade: 2
Open To: Four Years and Older
Track: Turf
Length: 4,141 Metres
Location: United Kingdom
Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle 2026: Cheltenham Festival Betting Preview
Bambino Fever is Odds-On, But the Horse Who Beat Her at Naas is 4/1, and the Racing Post Wants to Know Why
Thursday, 12 March 2026 | 1:20 PM | Cheltenham Racecourse, Prestbury Park, Gloucestershire
Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle (Registered as the Dawn Run Mares' Novices' Hurdle) | Grade 2 | 2 Miles 1 Furlong (2m 179y) | New Course | 8 Hurdles | 4yo+
The Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle opens the Day 3 card at the Cheltenham Festival and presents one of the most talked-about betting puzzles of the week. Bambino Fever, Willie Mullins' 2025 Champion Bumper winner, is a 4/5 favourite to add a second Festival success to her record. But Oldschool Outlaw, the mare who beat her fair and square on their hurdling debuts at Naas in December, has since been purchased by JP McManus, won a Grade 3 emphatically, and is available at 4/1. The Racing Post's live blog posed the question bluntly: "Can anyone explain to me why Bambino Fever's so short?"
First run in 2016, this Grade 2 contest has quickly established itself as a key target for the best novice mares in Britain and Ireland. The race is registered as the Dawn Run Mares' Novices' Hurdle, honouring the legendary mare who remains the only horse to complete the Champion Hurdle-Gold Cup double. Run over two miles and 179 yards on the New Course with eight hurdles, it demands the same combination of speed, jumping accuracy, and stamina that the wider Festival programme tests in every horse who arrives at Prestbury Park in March.
The favourite has won three of the first four renewals of this race (Limini 2016, Let's Dance 2017, and subsequent winners), and the market leaders generally have a strong record. With Bambino Fever seemingly head and shoulders above the field on reputation and Cheltenham form, this looks like a race where backing the favourite makes intuitive sense. But intuition and betting are not always comfortable bedfellows, and there is a legitimate case that Oldschool Outlaw is being underestimated.
The Ante-Post Market
Time Stamp: Saturday, March 8, 2026, 12:00 PM ET
Odds Subject to Change
Source: Oddschecker
Bambino Fever 1.80 (4/5) | Oldschool Outlaw 5.00 (4/1) | La Conquiere 12.00 (11/1) | Venusienne 14.00 (12/1) | Narciso Has 16.00 (14/1) | Korinthia 20.00 (16/1)
Bambino Fever: The Champion Bumper Winner Stepping Up
Bambino Fever won the 2025 Champion Bumper under Jody Townend, the amateur jockey and daughter of champion Paul Townend, delivering a performance of genuine class to become Willie Mullins' fourteenth winner of that race. She transitioned to hurdling this season and won impressively at Fairyhouse over Christmas at 1/16 when destroying a field of four by five and a half lengths. That performance looked seamless - the kind of natural hurdler who takes to obstacles as though she has been jumping them all her life.
Then came the reality check. At Naas in December, on her hurdling debut, Bambino Fever was beaten half a length by Oldschool Outlaw, who showed superior pace and fitness at a stage when the Mullins yard was widely acknowledged to be underperforming. Mullins came back with her at Fairyhouse in February, but she was beaten nine lengths by the same Oldschool Outlaw in a Grade 3. The form line between these two mares is clear: Oldschool Outlaw has beaten Bambino Fever twice from two meetings over hurdles.
So why is Bambino Fever 4/5 and Oldschool Outlaw 4/1? The answer is Cheltenham. Bambino Fever has already won at the Festival, she is trained by the man who has won more races at Cheltenham than anyone in history, and she will be ridden by Paul Townend on the biggest stage. The assumption is that the Mullins operation will have her sharper and fitter for Cheltenham than she was for either Naas or Fairyhouse, and that the unique demands of the Festival will bring out the best in a horse who has already shown she can handle the pressure. At 4/5, the market is essentially saying that Bambino Fever's Cheltenham pedigree and the Mullins factor outweigh the fact that she has been beaten twice by a specific rival.
Oldschool Outlaw: The Value Play With the Form
Oldschool Outlaw's case is built on hard results rather than reputation. The JP McManus-owned mare beat Bambino Fever on hurdling debut at Naas by half a length, then followed up with a nine-length demolition at Grade 3 level at Fairyhouse in February. She is two from two over hurdles, travels beautifully through her races, and connections have specifically targeted this race with Cheltenham in mind. Jack Kennedy has been the jockey on both occasions, and the combination looks well established.
The horseracing.net preview was emphatic: Oldschool Outlaw "beat her fair and square at Naas before Christmas, has since been bought by JP McManus and won a Grade 3 emphatically." At 4/1, she is being priced as though the two defeats she inflicted on the favourite happened in a parallel universe. The argument against her is the one that applies to every horse taking on Mullins at Cheltenham: the master trainer has a way of producing horses at their peak on Festival week, and what happened at Naas and Fairyhouse may not be the relevant form come Thursday afternoon. But the form says she should be closer in the betting than she currently is, and 4/1 looks generous for a horse with two wins from two over hurdles and two victories over the odds-on favourite.
The Others
La Conquiere (11/1) is an interesting British-trained runner from the Tizzard yard who won at Uttoxeter and Newbury this season, handling softer ground well on the second occasion. She lacks the class of the top two but could pick up place money if the race falls apart. Narciso Has (14/1) represents Willie Mullins and won at Leopardstown at the DRF, beating Mullins stablemates in the process. She adds another Closutton angle and could be the forgotten Mullins runner who sneaks into a place. Korinthia (16/1) won at Thurles in December and is another Irish raider with place claims at a price.
Trends and Statistics
Time Stamp: Saturday, March 8, 2026, 12:00 PM ET
Odds Subject to Change
Source: Oddschecker
The Mares' Novices' Hurdle was first run in 2016 and has a limited dataset, but several patterns have emerged in its short history.
Favourites have a strong record, winning three of the first four renewals and generally performing well. The market has been a reliable guide in this race, with the first three in the betting typically dominating the finish. Willie Mullins has trained multiple winners and is the dominant force, as he is in almost every novice race at the Festival. Irish-trained runners have dominated, reflecting the strength in depth of the Irish mares' programme. Five-year-olds have the best record, which fits both Bambino Fever and Oldschool Outlaw. Previous Cheltenham form is a positive - Bambino Fever's Champion Bumper victory gives her a significant edge on this measure over Oldschool Outlaw, who has not raced at the track before.
Race History
The Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle was introduced in 2016 as part of an ongoing effort to enhance the programme for mares in National Hunt racing. Registered as the Dawn Run Mares' Novices' Hurdle, it honours the incomparable Dawn Run, who won the Champion Hurdle in 1984 and the Gold Cup in 1986 - still the only horse to achieve that double. The race carries Grade 2 status and a prize fund that reflects its growing importance in the Festival calendar. For 2026, it has been moved to the Thursday card as part of the schedule reshuffle that saw the Mares' Hurdle also shift to Day 3. Run on the New Course over two miles and 179 yards, it features eight hurdles and typically attracts fields of between ten and fifteen runners.
Quick Reference: Key Odds
Time Stamp: Saturday, March 8, 2026, 12:00 PM ET
Odds Subject to Change
Source: Oddschecker
Bambino Fever 1.80 (4/5) | Trainer: Willie Mullins | Jockey: Paul Townend
Oldschool Outlaw 5.00 (4/1) | Trainer: TBC (purchased by JP McManus) | Jockey: Jack Kennedy
La Conquiere 12.00 (11/1) | Trainer: Joe Tizzard | Jockey: TBC
Venusienne 14.00 (12/1) | Trainer: Willie Mullins | Jockey: TBC
Narciso Has 16.00 (14/1) | Trainer: Willie Mullins | Jockey: TBC
Korinthia 20.00 (16/1) | Trainer: TBC | Jockey: TBC
2025 Mares' Novices' Hurdle Result (run on Day 1 in 2025)
1st Optimal (6.00, 5/1) - Willie Mullins
2nd Halka Du Tabert
3rd Morning Soldier
Last 5 Winners
2025: Optimal 6.00 (5/1) - Willie Mullins
2024: Brighterdaysahead 3.50 (5/2) - Gordon Elliott
2023: Honeysuckle Memorial (Grade 2 first year)
2022: N/A (race format varied)
2021: Telmesomethinggirl 5.00 (4/1) - Henry de Bromhead
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