Another very new race in the annals of festival history, having been first run in 2011. Officially registered as The Golden Miller Novices Chase, it is therefore named after the greatest horse to ever run at Cheltenham. Golden Miller won 5 consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cups between 1932-36, a feat which will surely never be equaled, never mind bettered. The race itself is the first race on the Thursday and sees action moved to the new course after the first 2 days of the festival are run on the old course. Race distance is 2m 4f and there are 17 fences to be jumped meaning that good, accurate jumping, the ability to travel and stamina reserves to kick up the hill in a driving finish are pre-requisites for winning this race. Or, as Vautour demonstrated in 2015, simply being miles better than anything else in the field will also do the trick. Here is the rather short list of previous wiiners: As with most of the novice events at the festival, the weeks and months before the race are filled with speculation about which horse will actually run in which race - a minefield for punters. With just under 2 weeks to go we still have 37 left in the race and the market leader in most books is The Twister's Bristol De Mai, whose bold front-running style and flamboyant jumping have made him a popular choice with punters at between 3 and 4-1. Next up is Outlander, who looks the most likely of Willie Mullins glut of entries to run. He could be joined by Shaneshill and possibly Black Hercules (boo, no Willie, send him to the RSA). With Douvan scaring off most runners from the Arkle, and the awesome pair of No More Heroes and More Of That in the RSA, this race should have some real depth this year with horses like Sizing John and Garde La Victoire also prominent in the betting. Latest betting from Oddschecker Entries
