JCB Triumph Hurdle to kick off Cheltenham Friday

Our beginnners guide continues with a look at Cheltenham Friday, which features the jewel in the crown, the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

After three days of entertaining races and all round good fun at the Cheltenham Festival, the event is concluded on Cheltenham Gold Cup day with an action packed day of racing.

The Gold Cup itself is of course the highlight on the Friday of the famous festival, but there are six other races to consider when it comes to your betting preparations.

This includes the JCB Triumph Hurdle which begins proceedings on Cheltenham Gold Cup Day. With the doors open from 10.30am, the atmosphere is always fantastic on the final day and will be at boiling point by the point it is time for this Triumph Hurdle.

The race – a grade one event which covers a distance of 2m 1f – has seen its field size reduced in recent years but the 2011 event is set to have 28 competitors, many of which will be high-quality, in-form and well trained horses.

There are many things to look for when checking out the betting odds for this event – the Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle trial on Cheltenham trials day is a good indicator in terms of the flavour of the race for example – but one thing for sure is that this is a race with one of the most active betting markets across the whole festival.

Last year, Paul Nicholls trained Zarkandar was the winner, while the favourite to emerge victorious in 2012 is Hinterland, available at around 8/1 with most bookies.

There are several other serious contenders though, including Minsk at 11/1, Urbain De Sivola at 12/1 and Dildar at 16/1. In all honesty though, the winner could come from anywhere. The likes of Schism – available at 25/1 – cannot be ruled out for example.

There is of course still time for possible winners to emerge as well. Many juvenile hurdlers come to people’s attention during the few months leading up to the festival and this has to be taken into consideration, as does the most in-form horses at the time.

Overall, the JCB Triumph Hurdle it is an energetic and entertaining opening to Cheltenham Gold Cup Day and is set to get underway at 1.30pm on Friday 16th March 2012.