The ninth leg of the Crystal Cup returns to the home of Jump racing in 3 weeks’ time as runners from Britain, Ireland and France go head to head in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase on day 2 of the Cheltenham Festival, Wednesday March 11th.

Winner twice over course and distance last season, and not seen since a memorable triumph at Pardubice in October, Stumptown will vie for favouritism, and will top the weights for this limited handicap, published on February 25th.  He is one of three entries for Gavin Cromwell, who carried all before him last year with a win in the Gold Cup with Inothewayurthinkin. the other Cromwell entries are Vanillier, who could likely undertake this course blindfold, and Final Orders, who came out best in the previous Crystal Cup leg at Cheltenham last December.

Culendra has five entered to ensure the prize heads back to Ireland. Gordon Elliott has a much stronger set of candidates for this year, having endured a miserable Festival 12 months ago by his exacting standards. January Cheltenham cross country winner Favori de Champdou heads the list, supported by The Goffer, Pied Piper and Chemical Energy, with the class act Conflated, a one-time Grade I winner now confined to handicaps and banks races.

Enda Bolger, so long the king of the banks races, has just the single J P Mcmanus entry of Fakir d’Oudairies, but this is unlikely to be the Irish billionaire’s best chance of a Festival winner in 2026.

Another emerging talent, Emmet Mullins, has the able J’Arrive de l’Est, among the youngest in the field still, and runner-up in both previous outings over course and distance this season.

David Cottin has run the Caroline Tisdall owned pair Placenet and Iceo Madrik in previous editions of this race, but they look well exposed on January running, so he replaces them with Karre Das, winner of the Grade III Prix Fondeur at Auteuil last November, the race that launched Il Est Francais 15 months ago.

The best of the British contingent is probably among horses fresh to this genre of race. Most interesting of these is Famous Bridge, disqualified from the Haydock Grand National Trial 12 months ago, but struggling to rediscover that form presently. The same return to form is required by Heather Main’s Numitor, 3lbs separating their ratings at 145 and 142 respectively.

The remainder are well exposed at this level, although this does not preclude them running on through beaten horses into a place.

The entry of 23 is well down on 2025, and requires just 7 to be scratched to ensure a run. Weights will be published on February 25th. Full list of entries here