Nichols Canyon can prove an able deputy to fill void…

Nichols Canyon can prove an able deputy to fill void left by Faugheen

For the first time, there are 28 races at Cheltenham’s Festival meeting, but it is the Supreme Novice Hurdle, the first event on the card, which could set the tone. It is always one of the most popular races of the meeting with punters, who wade in, heads down, after many months of excited anticipation, and if Min, the favourite, gives Willie Mullins his fourth Supreme winner in a row, the ripples will be felt all the way to Friday evening.

The strength and depth of Mullins’s team for this year’s Festival is well known, but, from a betting perspective, Min could be the most important runner of all. He has been the market leader for the Supreme since last autumn and his name will be at the top of many thousands of Yankees and other roll-up bets on Mullins runners across the four-day meeting. Victory would immediately shift large piles of cash on to Douvan, in the Arkle Trophy, and Un De Sceaux, in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, as well as Mulllins’s leading contenders for the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday. Mullins said recently that punters were asking him about Min at the Galway in July and his preparation for the Supreme has been similar to that of Douvan, last year’s winner. Looking at his price in the context of his public form, however, it is hard to escape the – slightly unsettling – conclusion that the market knows something that the rest of us do not.

Min is the fourth-best horse in the race according to Timeform and may be his current price mainly because the bookies took a long look at the first-day card and decided to head for the shelters before the siren had sounded. Buveur D’Air, one of several rivals who has done little wrong, is a better bet at around 7-1.

Annie Power’s starting price for the Champion Hurdle is one of several over the week that may depend on Min, but she was not being considered for the race when Faugheen, last year’s winner, was still sound. She will help to make the price for her stable companion Nichols Canyon, however, while Double Shuffle, in the novice handicap chase, is a another solid contender at a very fair price.

Uncertainty over running plans still clouds the betting for the Champion Chase, but Un De Sceaux should win whatever happens and at a price that is boosted by Sprinter Sacre’s return to the race. High Bridge is a huge runner at around 12-1 in the Bumper the same afternoon.

Zabana has been forgotten since his defeat on heavy going at Leopardstown last time out but remains a contender for the JLT Novice Chase on better ground while Aux Ptits Soins, who beat him in the Fred Winter last year, is a big price at around 16-1 for the Ryanair World Hurdle.

An exceptional Gold Cup will not receive the attention it deserves on Friday as a result of Victoria Pendleton’s presence in the Foxhunter Chase, but punters who back Cue Card, who would perhaps be the clear favourite were he trained by Mullins, should at least get a decent price about On The Fringe and the outstanding Nina Carberry 40 minutes later.