The three most backed horses for Friday at Cheltenham post final declarations combine for a best price 30/1 treble through oddschecker.
Galopin Des Champs – Cheltenham Gold Cup
The most backed horse for the final day at Cheltenham is GALOPIN DES CHAMPS, whose status as the gem in the crown of National Hunt Racing would only be solidified with a win in the Festival’s blue riband event.
Willie Mullins’ seven-year-old charge hasn’t looked back since winning the 2021 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle and he would already be dual Cheltenham Festival winner had he not fallen at the final fence in last year’s Turners Novices’ Chase when 12 lengths ahead.
He is 2-2 this season having landed the John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown and the Irish Gold Cup last month and he has looked near unbeatable when standing up over fences.
More than 26% of the punters betting through oddschecker have shown their support for Galopin Des Champs since final declarations for the day’s racing were made on Wednesday.
Lossiemouth – Triumph Hurdle
LOSSIEMOUTH has been well fancied for this race ever since her impressive Irish debut at Fairyhouse in December, when she readily dispatched stablemate Zarak The Brave and subsequent dual scorer Comfort Zone in the Grade 3 Bar One Racing Price Boost Juvenile Hurdle.
Rich Ricci’s exciting grey further enhanced her reputation when defeating subsequent Grade 1 winner Gala Marceau and Grade 2 Adonis Hurdle winner Nusret in the Grade 2 Knight Frank Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown on Boxing Day.
However, Gala Marceau got her revenge in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival – a race which prompted master trainer Willie Mullins to criticise Lossiemouth jockey Paul Townend for giving her such a hard run from the third last with too much ground to make up.
Blood Destiny will have something to say too, but Cheltenham is the perfect scene to determine the winner of the Lossiemouth vs Gala Marceau trilogy. At the time of writing, 45% of those betting on the win market for the Triumph Hurdle since Wednesday have backed Lossiemouth.
Corbetts Cross – Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle
Unsurprisingly featuring in Friday’s most backed treble is CORBETTS CROSS, who is 3-4 over hurdles having won races over two miles, two-and-a-half-miles and three miles this winter.
That alone suggests that Corbetts Cross is out of the ordinary and there was plenty to like about the way in which he battled to land the Grade 2 Johnstown Novice Hurdle at Naas last month, winning by a head from Found A Fifty.
Emmet Mullins’ charge will only have had 19 days to recover if taking up this engagement and that would normally be asking a lot of a young horse. However, there was only 17 days between his victories at Limerick and Fairyhouse earlier this season.
20% of the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle betslips feature backing for Corbetts Cross.
