By Jon Lees
Ante-post punters have staked their cash on two serial Cheltenham Festival winners delivering the goods for them at next month’s jumping extravaganza.
The meeting’s all-time leading trainer Willie Mullins will head to Gloucestershire needing six more winners to bring up an extraordinary century.
And there is no more successful owner at the four day event than JP McManus, the billionaire whose legendary betting exploits began in 1982 when his first Festival winner Mister Donovan reportedly landed him £250,000.
So perhaps not surprisingly both feature heavily in punters’ wagers for the biggest betting week of the year. Ladbrokes have compiled a top five of the best backed horses and the standout is trained by Mullins for McManus.
Fact To File finished second in last year’s Champion Bumper and since being sent straight over fences has won two of his three starts, the latest at the Dublin Racing Festival.
He is now as low as 5-6 from 5-4 for the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase and one of four horses due to run in the McManus green and gold on the bookmaker's list.
Saint Roi, also trained by Mullins, had been running in top company this season but is set to drop in class for the Grand Annual Handicap Chase at Cheltenham, for which he is 5-1 from 8-1.
The odds of the Jonjo O’Neill-trained Crebilly have halved to 4-1 for the Plate Handicap Chase while No Ordinary Joe, from the Nicky Henderson stable, has been supported into 10-1 for the Coral Cup.
The only non-McManus-owned horse on the list is Shishkin. Britain’s leading challenger for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The Henderson hope is now 6-1 from 8-1.
Ladbrokes spokesperson Nicola McGeady said: “The picture is constantly changing but as of right now, Fact To File is the hottest property heading to the Cheltenham Festival as far as our punters are concerned.
“Interestingly Shishkin is attracting more bets than Galopin Des Champs in the Gold Cup, while Saint Roi, Crebilly, and No Ordinary Joe are proving very popular too.”
