The Cheltenham National Hunt Festival is just around the corner once more, and preparations are well under way. But who are the favourites for this year’s event? In this article we take a look at the bookie’s favourites for 2011.

The first day is the Supreme Novice’s Hurdle where the favourite is Cue Card. Cue Card has had an impressive record throughout 2010 and is now expected to win the Supreme Novice Hurdle on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival. Other favourites from this race are Zaidpour after odds were cut when Zaidpour made it 2-2 over the hurdles at the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle in December 2010. Hidden Universe is the next favourite for this race.

Also on the first day of the Cheltenham races will be the Arkle Trophy, William Hill Trophy, Champion Hurdle, Cross Country Chase, Dave Nicholson Mares Hurdle and the Centenary Novices Chase. The favourites for these retrospectively are Blazing Bailey, Binocular, Garde Champetre, Quevega and Quel Esprit.

The second day kicks off with the National Hunt Chase, with Chicago Grey as the favourite at odds of 6/1. Close behind is Aiteen Thirtythree at 10/1. The Neptune Novices Hurdle has Bobs Worth as the favourite at 11/2; for the RSA Chase we have Time For Rupert at 11/2; the Queen Mother Champion Chase has Master Minded at the top with odds of 5/2; in the Coral Cup the favourite is Aegean Dawn at 10/1; the Fred Winter handicap hurdle has A Media Luz with 10/1 odds and the final race of the day will be Champion Bumper with Knight Pass topping the odds at 10/1.

Day three begins with the Jewson Novices Chase and Noble Prize is tops here with odds of 10/1; the Pertemps Final see Grand Crus as favourite with 12/1; odds on Poquelin for the Ryanair Chase are 9/2; the World Hurdle sees the best odds of the day on Big Bucks with odds of 39/40; we also have the Festival Plate with odds of 14/1 on Fistral Beach and the day ends with the Kim Muir Challenge Cup with best odds once again on Fistral Beach at 14/1.

The final day, day four starts with the Triumph Hurdle. Odds are on Grandouet at 15/2 for the Triumph Hurdle which is the opening race of the day. Next up is the Country Hurdle with Aegean Dawn as favourite at 14/1; the Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle has Court in Motion as favourite with odds of 7/1; Cheltenham Gold Cup sees Imperial Commander as the top of the odds here at 37/10; the Foxhunter’s Chase has Baby Run down with 7/1 odds; the Conditionals Handicap Hurdle favourite is Dynaste with 12/1 and the final race of the 2011 Cheltenham Festival is the Grand Annual with Mad Max down at 14/1.

It’s quite clear here that the big winners of the Cheltenham Festival 2011 are set to be Big Bucks in the World Hurdle, as well as Imperial Commander in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.