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Supreme Novices’ Hurdle
14/03/11

The Stan James Supreme Novices’ Hurdle is one of the most popular races held at the Cheltenham Festival and the race this year is very highly anticipated, not least because of the presence of the extremely well liked Cue Card.

Cue Card
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The race is a Grade One National Hunt Hurdle with eight hurdles jumped across a distance of two miles. The race is open to horses over four years old and takes place on the first day of the Festival.

As the opening race of the meeting the race attracts a considerable amount of attention and is usually a very eventful affair. So far this year the pre-race talk had been all about the favourite Cue Card. The smart five year old is the banker bet for lots of professional punters who look to start their annual battle with the bookmakers with a significant victory. Trained by Colin Tizzard, the horse has put in some notable performances and as a result sits as the short-priced 9/4 favourite in the betting market.

Spirit Son from the Nicky Henderson yard is expected to go well and a look at the cheltenham betting guide will tell you that he is currently second favourite at 6/1 whilst other notable runners in the race include three from the Paul Nicholls yard (Al Ferof, Sam Winner and Rock On Ruby) and two from Willie Mullins (Zaidpour and So Young).

The most interesting withdrawals at the six-day entry stage have been the Irish raiders Day Of A Lifetime and Unaccompanied. The former still holds an entry for the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle whilst the latter is expected to go in the Triumph Hurdle.

The remaining 23 runners represent a good field and the Cheltenham Festival is heading for another superb opening race.