Rich Ricci and Willie Mullins horse dubbed ‘the next superstar’ among five most popular Cheltenham ante-post bets

A RICH RICCI and Willie Mullins horse dubbed ‘the next superstar’ is among the most popular Cheltenham Festival ante-post bets, according to research by Oddschecker.

Willy De Houelle has been all the rage with punters and obliterated from 33s to as short as 5-1 favourite for the Triumph.

PA

Nicky Henderson is confident Constitution Hill is back to his best – and so are punters if the ante-post markets are anything to go by[/caption]

But he doesn’t hold top spot in the list of the ten most popular horses backed throughout the summer.

Oddschecker took close note of the cash coming in from June to October.

And they calculated how much, as a percentage, of all bets placed on a particular race belonged to the most popular horses.

Here are their findings.

1 Constitution Hill – Champion Hurdle

7-4 fav

Will he or won’t he? Will Nicky Henderson’s stable star return as the all-conquering, unbeaten superstar hurdler – or won’t he?

According to bets placed throughout the summer and, on the back of Hendo’s glowing reports from Seven Barrows, punters are of the view he just might.

It won’t be easy, thought – and he could meet the awesome Mullins duo of State Man and Lossiemouth at the March feature.

But, for now, Constitution Hill accounts for 78 per cent of all bets placed on the Champion Hurdle market with Oddschecker.

2 Willy De Houelle – Triumph Hurdle

5-1 fav

Undoubtedly the talking horse of the summer months, this French recruit has been smashed since news got out he was under the ownership of Ricci.

An Oddschecker number-cruncher said: “Willy De Houelle is being dubbed the next superstar by many pundits in the sport.

“A surge of bets around late August saw this horse’s price slashed from 33-1 to the 8-1 favourite for the Triumph Hurdle.

“Since August 20, this three-year-old has taken 59 per cent of all bets placed on the Triumph Hurdle winner market.”

3 Ballyburn – Arkle Novices’ Chase

7-4 fav

Huge questions hover over the future of last year’s Ballymore winner.

He looks the horse to be on wherever he goes… and at the moment people think it might be the Arkle over two miles.

Mullins has so many options with this awesome hurdler, who looks to have an engine and bags of stamina.

He’s responsible for half of all bets placed on the Grade 1 Novice Chase – although they could prove useless if Mullins decides to step him up to three miles and a spot in the Brown Advisory.

Of course, he could always go for the Champion Hurdle…

Ballyburn is as short as 7-4 in places for the Arkle.

4 Teahupoo – Stayers’ Hurdle

5-2 fav

Already any money placed on Gordon Elliott’s defending champ looks shrewd – especially with the news his stablemate Irish Point is out for the season.

Labelled a banker by many already at this stage, 67 per cent of all bets on the Stayers have been on Teahupoo.

Expect that number to grow and grow with not much else good enough to take him on.

5 Salvator Mundi – Supreme Novices’ Hurdle

10-1

Lightly-raced, trained by Mullins, essentially a second-season novice and last seen winning by 62 lengths at Tipperary – it’s easy to see why Salvator Mundi is popular for the Festival opener.

He failed to shine in the Triumph but it looks like the patient approach could pay off with this son of No Risk At All.

Salvator Mundi is responsible for 35 per cent of all bets on the Supreme.

The remainder of the top ten…

Galopin Des Champs – 7-2f Gold Cup
Ballyburn – 6-1f Brown Advisory
Lossiemouth – 5-2f Mares’ Hurdle
Lossiemouth – 7-2 Champion Hurdle
Gaelic Warrior – 5-1 Champion Chase

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