Cheltenham day one - the biggest races

The second half of Day One opens with the highlight of the day the Stan James Champion Hurdle. Here's part two of our quick and handy guide to how each race is shaping up at the moment on the opening day and there is plenty for fans of online betting to get their teeth into.

Champion Hurdle

The 2011 running of the Champion Hurdle has developed into one of the stronger contests with a nice contrast between a former winner in Binocular, some new kids on the block - Menorah, Peddlers Cross, Hurricane Fly and Oscar Whisky – with an improving handicapper Mille Chief thrown in for good measure. Last year's winner Binocular will have disappointed many with his effort at Sandown, when he struggled to beat a vastly inferior stable mate, but then he's done that before peaking for his big day at Cheltenham. The improving bunch include two winners from the 2010 Festival in Menorah and Peddlers Cross, the latter having already beaten Binocular at Haydock earlier this year when the reigning Champion was a still finding his form for the season. Both of those will have their supporters although Peddlers Cross is under a small cloud at the moment due to a coughing scare and those looking to place a horse racing bet should remember this.

Hurricane Fly has been beating all of the opposition put before him in Ireland and this son of Montjeu who has an easy cruising style is sure to be going easily throughout most of the race, whether he gets up the Cheltenham hill or not is another matter, but if he does he will give Montjeu his first Cheltenham winner. Oscar Whisky is another like Binocular from the Henderson stable and he has sealed his place in the line-up with an easy and convincing win in the Welsh Champion Hurdle – he once again gives Nicky Henderson a strong hand in the race. Alan King has won the race before with Katchit and his Mille Chief threw his hat in the ring when winning a Sandown handicap impressively of 145. That form alone would not be enough to win a Champion Hurdle but he still has improvement in him and gives the race yet another dimension. Already set as the highlight of the day if all of these contenders make the gig we are in for a race to remember.

Cross Country Handicap Chase

One of those races that you either love or hate at the Festival as the runners wind their way around the inside of the main courses jumping a variety of poles, hedges, banks and fences before finishing in front of the stands. All the six runnings of this event has been won by the Irish and four of them were horses trained by Enda Bolger, so once again it should be his contenders that you are looking out for. They will be headed by Garde Champetre and L'Ami who have both recently demonstrated their well-being and most crucially have experience of the Cross Country course at Cheltenham which is a major positive for any contender in this race. The GB horses have struggled to get a foothold in this race and it's generally best left to the Irish to take this one home.

David Nicholson Mares Hurdle

One of the newer races at the Festival this will be the fourth running of the event, but the event is growing in prestige each year and in Quevega we have had a real star win the race for the last two years. She is unsurprisingly at the head of the market again as connections look set to ignore tougher targets such as the Champion/World hurdles in return for a three-timer in this race. She's not been seen since winning at the Punchestown Festival last April but she goes well fresh having won the race off a similar break last year. She will be one of the likely Irish bankers on the first day. The main opposition will come from two other Irish mares Voler La Vedette and Our Girl Salley but it would be a major shock if Quevega is beaten by either of these. Whiteoak won the first running for Donald McCain but since then it has been a barren race for those trained this side of the Irish Sea, but the home team have a creditable challenger this year in Sparky May who demolished a decent field at Ascot recently and looks to be improving rapidly.

Centenary Novices' Handicap Chase

The race has a new name but don't get confused as this is really the race that used to be run as the Jewson handicap which opened the third day of the Festival. As with the other handicap chase that will be run on the opening day this one has no entries for it yet and it guesswork as to which horses will eventually run in the race. One thing that we would say is that a lot of the horses that are currently quoted in the ante-post lists for the race won't be eligible as the race is only open to those rated 0-140 and many quoted are already rated higher than that band. Take care when looking at this race before the entries/weights are known.