Three Gold Cup runners make our top five most backed list for Cheltenham Day 4 but you might not guess them all...and none of those three come out on top.
Triumph Hurdle
Vauban
Instead, four-year-old Vauban is the most backed horse for Friday at Cheltenham since the final declarations for Day 4 were made on Wednesday.
Vauban, who remains a short-price favourite for the Triumph Hurdle, has taken 4.8% of the bets through oddschecker during that period and 29.0% of those on the individual race.
Andy Holding said: "A quality-looking Triumph in which the Irish contingent appear to have an edge on all known form and the pick courtesy of his recent Grade 1 success at Leopardstown is Vauban."
Cheltenham Gold Cup
Galvin
Galvin is the first of three horses from the Festival’s blue riband contest to make this top five list, having taken 3.9% of total racing bets and 17.5% of those for a wide open Cheltenham Gold Cup.
At the time of writing, the Gordon Elliott trained eight-year-old shares favouritism with A Plus Tard (best price 7/2), whose stablemate Minella Indo (2021 winner) is third favourite at 11/2.
As part of his placepot head-to-head battle with jockey Danny Mullins, Steve Ryder said: “The Gold Cup looks an open renewal this season but preference goes to the Gordon Elliott trained Galvin who won the National Hunt Chase at the Festival last season.
“The eight-year-old was beaten by Frodon in the Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal in October but staked his claim for this race when he defeated A Plus Tard in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown at Christmas.”
Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle
Hillcrest
“He’s won around Cheltenham twice and when he stepped up to three miles last time at Haydock he won quite easily. I think he holds the right profile in what will be a fascinating race.”
Top jockey and Tote Ambassador Danny Mullins is, of course, talking about Hillcrest, who is just edging Ginto as the pre-race favourite for the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.
The seven-year-old might have taken fewer overall bets through oddschecker than the two above but he is the closest rival to Vauban in terms of individual race dominance (28.0%).
Royal Pagaille
Probably the surprise inclusion on this most backed list is Royal Pagaille, a relative outsider in the Cheltenham Gold Cup betting market at 14/1 – the joint sixth favourite for the race at the time of writing alongside King George VI Chase hero Tornado Flyer. Royal Pagaille might have only pulled in 15.9% of the Gold Cup bets, but it is unsurprisingly the most popular race to bet on.
A Plus Tard
You might remember when we called out Galvin as the second most backed that we said two more would follow from the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Well, Royal Pagaille might have been a surprise but A Plus Tard much less so. Rachael Blackmore will be on board as she looks to flip the top two from 12 months ago and become the first female rider to win the blue riband race.
