Supreme Novices' Hurdle

After a busy weekend of racing action at Leopardstown, Ballyburn has emerged as the most popular bet for the Cheltenham Festival.

Willie Mullins’ six-year-old had an impressive 7L victory in the Grade 1 Tattersalls Ireland 50th Derby Sale Novice Hurdle yesterday.

Following the win, bookmakers offering Non-Runner No Bet (NRNB) cut Ballyburn’s odds from 3/1 to the 6/4 favourite for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle next month.

Since last Friday, Ballyburn has taken an impressive 10.3% of all Cheltenham Festival bets placed on oddschecker, making him far and away the most backed in that time.

Fact To File, the horse who has taken the second most bets over the weekend (4.7%), defeated Gaelic Warrior in a two-runner race for the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Novices Chase.

We now have another Willie Mullins favourite at Cheltenham, with Fact To File 2/1 to win the Turners' Novices Chase, having previously been 5/1.

After a disappointing performance in the Irish Arkle, Marine Nationale has seen a huge drift in odds from 1/2 to 5/2 to win the equivalent at Cheltenham.

Find oddschecker’s 10 most-backed Cheltenham Festival bets since last Friday in the chart below.

Horse Race Current Odds (NRNB) % Of Total Bets Since 02.02
Ballyburn Supreme Hurdle 6/4 10.7
Fact To File Turners' Chase 2/1 4.7
Jeroboam Machin Champion Bumper 5/1 4.4
Marine Nationale Arkle Chase 5/2 4.4
Galopin Des Champs Gold Cup 10/11 4.3
Gaelic Warrior Arkle Chase 5/1 3.2
Lossiemouth Mares’ Hurdle 4/6 2.9
Ginny’s Destiny Turners’ Chase 3/1 2.8
Predators Gold Albert Bartlett 25/1 2.6
Sir Gino Triumph Hurdle 4/5 2.5