Nico De Boinville’s Ride on Old Park Star Shifts Supreme Novices’ Hurdle Momentum at Cheltenham

nico de boinville rode Old Park Star to victory in the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in the opening race of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival, delivering a British-trained 1-2-3-4 and halting a recent run of Irish success in the event.

What Happens When Nico De Boinville Times the Run on the Hill?

Old Park Star, the 15/8 favourite, tracked the pace set by Sober Glory before taking over after a late error from that rival. The winner stayed on strongly up the hill under the ride and crossed the line by a length and a half. Sober Glory finished second after making a significant mistake at the final flight; Mydaddypaddy was third by a nose, Baron Noir fourth and El Cairos the best of the Irish in fifth.

The winner is trained by Nicky Henderson, and the performance represents Henderson’s sixth success in the Supreme and his fourth this century following previous winners named in the race narrative. In the immediate aftermath, the winning rider described the performance as “incredibly gutsy, ” noting the horse had come through contact late on, had the stamina for the hill and was a “class horse. ” The rider added that the result was “great” for the yard.

• 1st: Old Park Star — 15/8 favourite; trained by Nicky Henderson; ridden by the winning rider.
• 2nd: Sober Glory — 9/2 second favourite; led much of the way but made a late mistake.
• 3rd: Mydaddypaddy — closed from mid-division but found room issues and lost second on the nod.
• 4th: Baron Noir — kept on into a never-threatening fourth.
• 5th: El Cairos — best placed of the Irish contingent; trained by Gordon Elliott.

What If a British 1-2-3-4 at the Opening Race Signals a Wider Shift?

For three consecutive renewals before this result, the Irish had prevailed in the Supreme and had supplied the first five home in the previous year. The British-trained clean sweep of the top four in the opening race constitutes an immediate reversal of that pattern. The composition of the placings — favourite to winner, a well-backed front-runner affected by a jumping error, and tight margins for the minor placings — highlights how small incidents in the closing stages determined the order.

Key actors named in the race narrative shaped the outcome: the front-running Sober Glory set the tempo before a poor jump at the final flight, Mydaddypaddy was producing a late challenge from mid-division but encountered traffic, and Old Park Star stayed the hill when it mattered. The result adds another chapter to Nicky Henderson’s record in the race and underlines the significance of positioning and jumping in a tight Supreme Novices’ Hurdle renewal.

This opening-race result leaves several clear takeaways. The immediate pattern of British-trained horses finishing 1-2-3-4 breaks the recent Irish dominance at the Supreme and shifts attention onto how the placed horses will be campaigned during the rest of the Festival. Race dynamics — pace, a late jumping error and in-running spacing — determined the placings more than raw pre-race form on the day.

Observers should register the end of a short run of Irish supremacy in the Supreme and note the continued influence of a leading trainer in the race’s history. The winning rider’s description of the performance and the narrow margins separating the first three underline a competitive renewal where small margins decided key positions; for now, the spotlight sits on the winner and on nico de boinville.