Four days of indulgence Valentine's Day is done and dusted, the pancake recipes have been put aside for another year and the evenings are starting to get longer, it can only mean one thing, the Cheltenham festival is almost upon us. For National Hunt enthusiasts, Cheltenham is the mecca, with the four day meeting the Holy Grail. The 11th of March 2014 has long been booked in the diaries as the start of four days of indulgence and some fantastic racing. The Cheltenham Gold Cup, the festival feature race, was turned on its head last week when the ante-post favourite Cue Card was forced to withdraw with what turned out to be a stress fracture. Cue Card impressed greatly when it beat Bobs Worth, the new favourite for the Gold Cup, Silviniaco Conti and current 20/1 outside bet Dynaste to the Betfair Chase at Haydock in November. With the Colin Tizzard trained horse now out for the rest of the season, the likes of Captain Chris, fallen star Long Run and Last Instalment will all fancy their chances of following in the footsteps of Bobs Worth and win as an outsider. Last year was a record breaking year for Irish trained horses as they ran up a tally of 14 victories. The feeling this year is that Irish-trained horses will do well again with Irish trainer Willie Mullins key to those hopes. Mullins, along with his stable jockey Ruby Walsh, will head to Cheltenham with quite possibly his strongest team ever. The stiffest challenge will come from former Champion hurdle winner Rock on Ruby, Irish Arkle winner Trifolium and the Paul Nicholls entry Dodging Bullets. The Coral Cup is the standout race on day two with Dunguib and Un Temps Pour Tout vying with Clondaw Kaempfer although given the size of the field this is one that has the potential to upset the bookmakers. Day three will see the favourite Dynaste, Paul Nicholl's Al Ferof, Benefficient and First Lieutenant go head to head for the Ryanair Chase. With the leading contenders all tightly bunched together in the betting, even allowing for the fact that the David Pipe trained Dynaste is the heavy ante-post favourite, this is a hard one to call and with such a large field running, the potential for an outsider of the ilk of Avrika Ligeonniere, Module and Menorah to win is great. The autumn and winter schedule gave race goers an idea about the ante-post favourites and leading contenders from Ireland and England and with the festival edging closer now all the final plans and preparations has been put in place. The time for talking is almost over, it's time to get serious. Make the most of your Cheltenham festival by opening an account with Seaniemac.com. In addition to offering some of the best odds on the market, Seanie Mac has also some great promotions for Cheltenham, offering Non-Runner Money Back on all races, fantastic specials each day of the festival and some great new account opening specials including up to £/€50 in Free Bets. Don't forget to follow @Seaniemac_com on twitter and on Facebook to keep up-to-date on all the breaking news, racecards, latest odds and special offers surrounding the Cheltenham festival.
