These ante-post favourites have been heavily backed up by punters...
With Cheltenham Festival kicking off tomorrow, punters up and down the country will be getting their bets on.
But, what horses do the bookmakers not want to win during the four-day festival? We looked at the five most backed horses since last year’s renewal finished.
All figures and percentage of bets are taken from the day after last year's Festival, March 16th, 2019, until today (March 9th).
Top five most backed Cheltenham Festival horses:
1. Envoi Allen (5/4)
This is the most-backed horse of the entire Festival and the biggest loser for a number of UK bookies.
The clear favourite to win the Ballymore Novices Hurdle, Envoi Allen is the most-backed horse by punters for the entire festival, through Oddschecker.
Accruing a whopping 60% of all bets on the Ballymore since the end of last year’s festival, odds have been cut accordingly on the Gordon Elliott-hope from 10/1 in June 2019, into just 5/4.
2. Paisley Park (4/6)
Officially the biggest favourite (in terms of odds) at the Festival, odds-on shot Paisley Park could cause serious problems in the trading floors if he hacks up in the Stayers Hurdle.
Accounting for a staggering 71% of all bets in the race, the Emma Lavelle-trained eight-year-old is the only show in town for the Stayers, and is priced at 8/11 to emerge victoriously.
3. Benie Des Dieux (2/3)
Alongside Paisley Park and Tiger Roll, Benie Des Dieux is the only other odds-on shot at this year’s festival and punters are all over the Willie Mullins entrant.
Priced at 4/6 at the time of writing, Benie Des Dieux has accounted for 62% of all bets in the race over the last year.
4. Tiger Roll (10/11)
Returning champion Tiger Roll caught the eye of the casual punter in last year’s Cross Country and Grand National – and he’s set to strike again.
Another odds on favourite at 10/11, Tiger Roll is romping the ante-post punting. Since last year’s festival finished, a ridiculous 82% of all bets in the race have backed the 10-year-old.
5. Appreciate It (13/8)
A slightly longer price than the above, Appreciate It is the favourite for the Champion Bumper and has been piled into by punters.
Attracting 42% of bets in the race, trading floors will be running for cover if it wins.
