Cheltenham Festival Day One: race-by-race guide and Tote Placepot

Both new and existing customers can pick up a £1 Placepot bet at tote.co.uk, just by opting-in, with the offer also available on each day of the Festival.

If you’ve not played the Placepot before, you need to pick a horse to place in each of the first six races to win a share of the pool. Pools regularly pay well into the thousands during the Festival with the average Placepot dividend paying £7,376.54 in the last five years, which with Tote+ now in place at tote.co.uk, would be £8,114.19.

Six of the past nine winners have had an official rating of 153 or higher, namely Vautour (155), Douvan (155), Altior (155), Klassical Dream (154), Shishkin (153) and, last year, Appreciate It (153), all of whom were trained by either Willie Mullins or Nicky Henderson. Dysart Dynamo (rated 152) is the highest-rated runner this year and is respected, but Henderson's team looks stronger and the best Placepot bet may be the unbeaten JONBON (4) who has gone under the radar a little, and is bidding to emulate his full brother Douvan, who won the race in 2015. He's preferred to Tolworth Hurdle winner Constitution Hill. At a bigger price, Mighty Potter won well last time and his trainer knows how to land a shock in this race (Labaik, anyone?).

Between 1998 and 2006, four renewals were won by five-year-olds, however, since the 5lb age allowance was scrubbed 13 years ago, they are 0/13 in the race. RIVIERE D’ETEL (11), Haut En Couleurs and Saint Sam are set to fly the flag for the generation this year, with all three prominent in the betting, and it's the first-named who gets a confident vote to be placed (for all she might not win). She may well have beaten Blue Lord at Leopardstown last month but for a final fence clanger, and can gain her revenge over that rival. Edwardstone is clearly a better chaser than he was a hurdler, but he faces a stern Irish challenge here, and of more interest is Coeur Sublime. His trainer has a fine record in the race and the horse's form behind Ferny Hollow reads well.

A win for the Ryanair-owned Death Duty, who was nominated by his trainer as being one of his best handicapped runners, would go down as well as a bottle of duty free, but nine of the past ten runnings of the Ultima have been won by a horse wearing some form of headgear (cheekpieces or blinkers but never a visor) at prices ranging between 15-2 and 28-1. So with that in mind we will take a punt on last year's winner VINTAGE CLOUDS (12) repeating the feat 12 months on. Cheekpieces are also applied to the 2020 Gold Cup third LOSTINTRANSLATION (2) in the hope of adding some consistency, and he gets the nod as a second selection ahead of Kiltealy Briggs, Does He Know, Fantastikas and the much-respected Flouer.

Since 2004, there have been 27 odds-on winners and 26 losers, and over the same period there have been 13 festivals with multiple odds-on shots; at least one of them has managed to get beat at 11 of those festivals. Despite that gloomy outlook, last year's winner HONEYSUCKLE (10) is now unbeaten in 14 starts under rules and looks impossible to oppose here; she can become just the second back-to-back winner since 2005 and rates a banker as a result. Appreciate It is a fascinating contender, making his first start since winning last year's Supreme Novices', but this looks a very tough ask, and a safer bet for the forecast looks to be the progressive five-year-old Teahupoo. For those wanting to chance their arm at longer odds, Zanahiyr's form has a solid feel to it.

BURNING VICTORY (1) was a fortunate winner of the Triumph Hurdle two years ago when Goshen came a cropper at the last but has done well - both on the Flat and over hurdles - since. She is fancied to confirm her Punchestown form with Queens Brook. Telmesomethinggirl, a winner at this meeting last year, and recent Relkeel Hurdle winner Stormy Ireland are the most pertinent dangers at shorter odds, but preference for a second string to the bow is for MRS MILNER (7). A proven Festival winner, she is clearly suited by the stiff uphill finish here and will be staying on when others have cried enough.

This race has been dominated by more French imports than the 2003/4 Premier League season, with nine of the 17 winners beginning their careers there. This year's well-touted favourite Gaelic Warrior had three runs at Auteuil for his previous yard and, though he didn't win, his overall level of form suggests a handicap mark of 129 may prove lenient, but he will be very popular as a result. Preference instead is for THE TIDE TURNS (2) who beat the likes of HMS Seahorse, Champion Green and Brazil in January and, though worse off at the weights today, should be hard to keep out of the frame. His stablemate Britzka is respected after a wind op, while Saint Segal, Doctor Brown Bear and Ebasari are others who also sport a tongue-tie for the first time. In-fact, there is more new headgear on display than a spring wedding. That includes the visored-first-time FOREVER WILLIAM (20) who has been highly tried the last twice, but a mark of 125 looks fair and his trainer knows all about juvenile hurdle winners at this meeting.

8 lines (1x1x2x1x2x2)

Leg 1: 4. Jonbon

Leg 2: 11 Riviere d’Etel

Leg 3: 2. Lostintranslation. 12. Vintage Clouds

Leg 4: 10. Honeysuckle

Leg 5: 1. Burning Victory. 7. Mrs Milner

Leg 6: 2. The Tide Turns 20. Forever William