Cheltenham Festival 2009
Date: 10-13 March First race: Tuesday, 1330 GMT
Coverage: Daily coverage on BBC Radio Five Live from 1300-1600, BBC Radio Gloucestershire, Channel Four and live updates on the BBC Sport website

Over 200,000 people are expected to pack into Cheltenham racecourse this week for the 2009 Festival.

The four-day meeting, which begins on Tuesday, is the highlight of the National Hunt calendar.

The showpiece of the week will be Friday's Gold Cup as defending champion Denman faces an eagerly awaited re-match with stablemate Kauto Star.

Despite the economic downturn, over £300m is expected to be wagered on the outcome of the week's 26 races.

Clerk of the course Simon Claisse reported the ground on Tuesday morning to be good to soft, soft in places after two millimetres of rain overnight.

"Even our forecast was saying five or six millimetres but we only got two and most of that came on Monday evening," he said.

"We may get the odd shower on Tuesday but it will be no more than one or two millimetres."

On the course, jockeys, trainers and owners will be chasing a record £3.56m prizemoney.

Organisers have reported slower than normal ticket sales with corporate packages also down while the number of Irish racegoers travelling over is also expected to be down.

"We're definitely getting fewer bookings and for a shorter period although we're not getting any distress signals from hotels or the bed and breakfast sector, which all feels as strong as ever," said Cheltenham managing director Edward Gillespie.

Tuesday's card features the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle, which has been won by Irish horses seven times in the last 10 years, but last year Katchit led home a British 1-2-3.

Binocular, owned by JP McManus and trained by Nicky Henderson, the Festival's most successful trainer, goes into the race as favourite.

On Wednesday, Master Minded will be hoping to make it back-to-back wins in the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase after his dominant 19-length victory last year.

The Paul Nicholls-trained star has looked equally impressive on his two runs so far this season and is a short-priced favourite for a repeat success.

Thursday's feature race is the Ladbrokes World Hurdle with the Francois Doumen-trained Kasbah Bliss aiming to go one better than last year when he finished second to three-time winner Inglis Drever.

With Inglis Drever now retired, there will be a new name on the trophy and Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson have hopes for Big Buck's and Punchestowns respectively.

But much of the Festival interest surrounds Friday's Gold Cup, the highlight of the Jumps season.

Although the Queen is better known for her patronage of Flat racing, she could be enjoying her first Cheltenham success with Barbers Shop, who has had a couple of good runs at the track.

Although he will attract plenty of interest from punters, Paul Nicholls, who saddles Denman, Kauto Star and Neptune Collonges will be tough to beat.

Denman triumphed over his stablemates last year but since then has had treatment for heart problems and looked unconvincing on his seasonal reappearance at Kempton in February.

Kauto Star, the 2007 winner, has bounced back in style this season and on his last appearance in the King George VI Chase in December was a comfortable winner.

But there is a big danger from Neptune Collonges, third last year but was also a winner last time out at Leopardstown.

Although much of the focus is on the racing action, racegoers still find time to enjoy themselves with 220,000 pints of Guinness are drunk over the course of the Festival, along with 20,000 bottles of champagne and 30,000 bottles of wine.

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