Sport

After weeks and weeks of anticipation, there are just seven days to go until the 2021 Cheltenham Festival gets underway and horse racing fans across the country settle down on their sofas and armchairs to feast their eyes on four days of top-quality racing.

The opening day of the Festival features the Champion Hurdle as its showpiece, and this year’s edition of the race is set to be incredibly exciting. There is a plethora of potential winners for the two-mile, half-a-furlong race, with punters scrutinising over the Champion Hurdle odds to try and determine where the value lies...

The Cheltenham Festival is just around the corner, and whilst us punters are away getting lost in the form guides and scouring the internet for the best Cheltenham odds today , the top owners and trainers will be deep in discussions about the best possible entries for their prized assets. The connections making the right decision is the difference between winning and losing at Prestbury Park, and even for an owner as esteemed as Rich Ricci there are difficult calls to make.

Perhaps the largest predicament the American businessman faces ahead of this year’s Festival is what race...

Racehorse trainer Paul Nicholls has had a magnificent season with his runners, and will be looking to cap it off with strong showings at the spring jumps festivals. Among a strong Cheltenham team representing his Ditcheat stables is the improving Bravemansgame.

Little did anyone know that when this horse won an Exeter novice hurdle in November, he would go on to make rapid further progress. A recruit from the Irish point-to-point scene, Bravemansgame joined Nicholls and ran in some very competitive National Hunt Flat races at Ascot during the winter of 2019.

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The peak of the jumping season for our British friends, the Cheltenham Festival is fast approaching. From Tuesday 16 March to Friday 19 March, more than £4.5 million in allocations will be distributed during the 28 races on the menu of these four days. Fourteen Group 1 events are on the bill, including the Cheltenham Gold Cup on the final day of the Festival. In this 5,300 metre long, £625,000 steeplechase, defending champion Al Boum Photo will be looking to retain his crown. Such a feat has not happened since Best Mate's double win (2003-2004).

The Cheltenham Horse Racing...