The British national hunt racing season seems to have battled through the equine flu scare, although it’s not totally out of the woods, and all focus is back on the upcoming Cheltenham Festival (12th-15th March). Indeed, the festival’s betting markets are all starting to take shape, as trainers start to give more indication of which of the 28 races will be their targets.

Of course, there are some narratives that have been in place since the early part of the season . Altior and Buveur D’Air, for example, will shoot for the Champion Chase and Champion Hurdle respectively. The former is the hot favourite for his fourth consecutive Cheltenham Festival victory, meaning he will join some ultra-elite company like Arkle. Altior is now priced at just 4/11 with Bet365 to take the Champion Chase.

Buveur chasing hat-trick

For Buveur D’Air, who is chasing a third Champion Hurdle, there has been a real spanner thrown in the works. For the majority of the year Buveur D’Air was the clear favourite on the ante post markets, but then Gordon Elliott indicated he would aim his superstar mare, Apple’s Jade, at the race. With some bookmakers, they are co-favourites, whereas the best prices available seem to be the 2/1 offered for Buveur D’Air with Betfair and Unibet’s 9/4 for Apple’s Jade. Regardless, it looks like a classic.
Another brilliant race to keep an eye on the opening day is the Arkle Chase, which looks to be finally opening up after Le Richebourg has been made the clear favourite at 10/3 (Betfair). Lalor also has a lot of admirers, and he is available at 9/2 generally. However, the value might lie with Kalashnikov, who was a former favourite but has dropped down to 20/1 with Betfair after some patchy performances. He is capable of much, much better, and he might be the perfect type to back with these Cheltenham sign up offers.

Gold Cup betting has intrigue
The beauty of Cheltenham is that the focus does not go on any individual race, yet the Gold Cup, arguably the Festival’s most important, looks intriguing this year. The markets have been all over the place for the last six months, with the likes of Might Bite and Native River making way for the new favourites Presenting Percy and Clan Des Obeaux. One would argue the momentum is all with the latter.

The current state of play sees Presenting Percy at a best price of 7/2 with Betfair, with Clan Des Obeaux offered at 9/2 generally. However, one could envisage the price of Clan Des Obeaux tightening further, as his form has been scintillating in recent months. Last year’s winner, Native River, can be found at 6/1, whereas there will also be support for Kemboy (10/1) and the much-loved veteran Thistlecrack (14/1).

Paisley Park leads Stayers’ market

Paisley Park is the hot-favourite for the Stayers’ Hurdle, which is usually one of the most open contests of the festival. A best-price of 9/4 is offered by Ladbrokes, but the rest of the market is somewhat unclear. Faugheen, one of the modern great hurdlers, is floating around at a price of 12/1 with William Hill, although his star has been falling in recent years. Can he manage one last moment of magic?

If you are looking to back a horse that looks more and more like a certainty, look no further than Altior in the aforementioned Queen Mother Champion Chase. He has won 17 consecutive races across four years of action. He loves Cheltenham and, more importantly, other trainers seem to be running scared and aiming their horses at other races.