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Friday’s racing round-up includes news from the opening meeting at Cheltenham for the 2024/25 jumps season…
Cheltenham Racecourse announced that ITV Racing, the terrestrial television coverage, will broadcast an extra race on each day of the Cheltenham Festival in 2025. Previously, ITV Racing have only covered the first five races on the four days, but will extend their programme to include a sixth. Ian Renton, The Jockey Club's Managing Director of Cheltenham Racecourse, said: "It is fantastic news that ITV Racing will be now covering six of the seven races on each day of The Festival. We are hugely grateful for ITV's ongoing and increased support, which enables us to showcase the very best in Jump racing to as wide an audience as possible."
Mill Stream is set to join Dark Angel at Yeomanstown Stud in Ireland for the upcoming 2025 season. Winner of the six-furlong Group 1 July Cup, Mill Stream has improved with each season and enjoyed a landmark year in 2024, with a third in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Royal Ascot in addition to the Newmarket success. In a statement on their website, Yeomanstown Stud's Gay O'Callaghan said: "I was blown away when I went to see Mill Stream. With his physique, strength, action and quality, I knew we had to have him. The July Cup is always the most important Group 1 sprint of the year. It's the one everybody wants. And he got it in style."
The new season kicked off in style at Cheltenham on Friday, with Dan Skelton's Valgrand completing a double for the team in the Grade Two Sky Bet Novices' Hurdle. It was an easy success for the five-year-old, who made all to record a seventeen-length victory under jockey Harry Skelton, with favourite Gale Mahler back in second. The gelding earnt quotes of 33/1 for the Grade One Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2025, with trainer Dan Skelton saying: "We now need to see him in another race to make sure today wasn't a fluke! If we can get another run like today, we could be dreaming. We just need to keep his and our feet on the floor at the moment."