Supreme Novices Betting Preview Pt 1

The opening race of the Cheltenham Festival is always an exciting spectacle but it does lead to the race being both overbet and, when combined with the fact that most of the contenders in the race are still very much finding their feet over obstacles, it can make it a tremendously frustrating contest to handicap. 

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Generally, this race has a seriously well-backed banker heading into it with last year one of the few iterations of the Supreme Novices where things were more or less wide open at the outset. This year’s contest sees the race more or less boiling down to a face off between Irving and Vautour - both of whom are seeking to wrap up defeated seasons over hurdles. 

At this point in time, Irving looks to be just getting the edge from the bookmakers with a couple of them pricing him around 5/2 and 11/4 with the others seeing him poised at a general 3/1. Vautour is 3/1 with several books but a few others have him trading in the neighbourhood of 7/2. 

It’s important to note just how solid Irving’s last run really was when he triumphed by a full five length margin over a tough field of seven in a Grade 2 contest at Kempton a few weeks back. He should be able to pull off two quality runs within that time frame as we saw him conquer a pair of races at the start of the season within eight days of each other. It’s certainly a bit of a throwback to be able to do that but you do have to admit that this horse simply has a good disposition and approaches races with a very professional attitude. 

Vautour’s last outing was a Grade 1 novice hurdle at Leopardstown back in early February and he was able to beat out The Tullow Tank, who was favoured that time out to deliver a 7/4 price tag for punters.