The Cheltenham Festival gets underway tomorrow (10-13 March), with top Irish trainer Willie Mullins expected to dominate on day one of the meeting.
They’re off
Mullins’ first strong chance comes in the opening race of the Festival, the Supreme Novices Hurdle. Not only does he train favourite Douvan, he has three of the other eleven runners in the race.
He also trains the favourite in the second race, with Un De Sceaux the odds-on favourite for the Arkle Novices Chase.
In the Champion Hurdle, the feature race of the day, Mullins has the unbeaten Faugheen and the promising Arctic Fire, as well as Hurricane Fly, who has two Champion Hurdles and a total of 22 Grade 1 wins to his name.
Here come the girls
Last year Quevega made history by winning the Mares Hurdle six times in a row. She was retired after last year’s race, but now her trainer Mullins has another superstar mare in the making in Annie Power.
With four strong favourites on the Tuesday alone, it could transpire to be an unforgettable Cheltenham for the Irish – but at the Festival, anything can happen.
Championship
Cheltenham is known as the Olympics of National Hunt racing, with 27 of the most competitive races in the calendar.
Wednesday’s focus is the Queen Mother Champion Chase, starring Sprinter Sacre and Sire De Grugy, while Thursday will see the long-distance hurdlers line up for the World Hurdle.
But the Festival is most famous for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the feature race on Friday. This year Silviniaco Conti is likely to start favourite, despite failing to win the race on his previous two attempts.