Connections couldn’t stop talking up Annamix last year before injury ruled him out for the season, and punters have not been scared to get behind him again this season as similar vibes come out of the camp.

Every year there seems to be a scramble to find the horse from the Mullins yard that is going to take Cheltenham by storm, as undoubtedly, there is always at least one, and the gelding is the one that punters will have a keen eye on this season.

Despite being yet to compete on a racecourse this side of the English channel, the five-year-old is the most backed ante post horse since the beginning of October, some way ahead of Gordon Elliot-trained Samcro. The Supreme Novice Hurdle is where bookmakers expect him to run, and he has been slashed into as short as 8/1 after being available as big as 20/1 back at the start of October.

Punters have not been shy to have an ante-post bet and have been filling their boots since the markets opened. Annamix has accounted for 60.7% of all bets on the opening race of the festival, nearly eight times as many bets as the next most backed horse in the race.

Oddschecker spokesman, George Elek: “Despite not running in the UK, Annamix is dominating the ante post betting, accounting for 12% of all Cheltenham bets in the last month.

'To put that into perspective, Samcro was the most popular in the same time period last year, but only held 7% of bets placed.”