Much-loved Cheltenham Festival begins Tuesday

The robust future-book market for the four-day Cheltenham National Hunt Festival that begins in western England on Tuesday has had a turbulent few weeks.

In late February, Epatante, the favorite for Tuesday’s $582,840 Champion Hurdle at about two miles, was found to be coughing, a situation that caused the 6-year-old mare’s price to rise from 3-1 to 9-2. When she was deemed to have recovered, the 6-year-old Epatante was restored as the 3-1 favorite.

About the same time, a new bet was launched on whether the Cheltenham Festival would be canceled because of the coronavirus outbreak. As of Thursday, the betting was 4-7 for racing to go forward and 5-2 for cancellation.

The British will bet on anything.

From Tuesday through Friday, there will be 28 races at Cheltenham Racecourse, a popular venue approximately 100 miles west of London. The four-day racing week typically attracts about 260,000 fans, many of whom travel from throughout England and Ireland to root on horses that ran in past seasons and have had prep races through the winter.

The Cheltenham Festival, on a course with a testing uphill finish, is comparable to a four-day Breeders’ Cup with the atmosphere of Kentucky Derby weekend. Many racegoers plan vacations around Cheltenham, but this year there is concern the crowds could be smaller because of coronavirus.

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With bookmakers handling most action, there are no official wagering figures, but an estimate for the week is $650 million.

Bettors have formed strong opinions on which horses from which stables they will back in the 13 hurdle races, 14 chases, and one flat race ranging in distances from about 1 15/16 miles to 3 3/4 miles.

Last year, there was a tie with 14 British-trained winners and 14 from Ireland. Yes, there is a bet for that, too.

Ireland’s Willie Mullins led all trainers with four wins, edging Britain’s Nicky Henderson, who also had four wins. Mullins had one more second-place finish to secure the title.

Mullins, 63, is the all-time leading trainer at the Cheltenham Festival with 65 wins, one more than the 69-year-old Henderson. They have benefited by having thriving stables in an era when the race week was expanded from three days to four days earlier this century.

Those trainers, along with Ireland’s Gordon Elliott and Britain’s Paul Nicholls, will have runners in nearly every race.

A key to the popularity of the Cheltenham Festival is annual appearances by familiar horses.

Epatante, who won the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton Park on Dec. 26, is a slight choice over stablemate Pentland Hills, who won the Triumph Hurdle for 4-year-olds at Cheltenham last year.

Wednesday, the 10-year-old Altior, trained by Henderson, seeks his fifth consecutive win at the Cheltenham Festival in the $518,080 Queen Mother Champion Chase at two miles, a race he has won the last two years.

The same day, the Elliott-trained Tiger Roll, winner of the famous Grand National at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool the last two years, will be heavily favored to win the $84,100 Cross Country Chase at 3 3/4 miles over an infield course of hurdles, fences, timber, banks, and other obstacles for the third consecutive year. The Cross Country Chase is Tiger Roll’s final prep for the Grand National on April 4.

Thursday, Paisley Park, who is only 8, will be an odds-on choice to win the $420,940 Stayers’ Hurdle at three miles, which he won last year in a popular victory as the favorite. Frodon is a contender for the $453,320 Ryanair Chase at 2 5/8 miles, which he won bravely from the front last year under jockey Byrony Frost.

Friday’s final day is led by the $809,500 Cheltenham Gold Cup at 3 1/4 miles, a race equivalent to the Breeders’ Cup Classic as the sport’s weight-for-age championship. The Mullins-trained Al Boum Photo beat 15 rivals in a 12-1 upset last year. As of Thursday, Al Boum Photo was the 4-1 co-favorite in the future book with Santini, trained by Henderson.