The opening day's feature race is the Champion Hurdle with Binocular a red-hot favourite.

Owned by legendary punter JP McManus and trained by Nicky Henderson, the five-year-old is unbeaten this season and his pilot Tony McCoy is a big fan.

However, there are some concerns that last time he ran at Cheltenham, in last year's Supreme Novices' Hurdle, he found the hill up to the finish line too tough and faded to second.

At his pre-Festival open day, champion trainer Paul Nicholls was confident about the chances of Celestial Halo, last year's Triumph Hurdle winner, although he has lost twice to Binocular this season.

Nicholls has not enjoyed the best of fortunes in the Champion Hurdle but he will be confident of claiming victory this year.