Cheltenham Festival Market Movers From This Weekend

The first horse from the weekend that impressed and saw the biggest market leap from any runner for the Cheltenham festival was the Willie Mullins trained Saldier.

The Irish trainer dominated the five runner field in the Grade One Morgiana Hurdle with three chances and it was the biggest price of them all, Saldier that took the spoils.

We tipped this horse up a few weeks ago as our Champion Hurdle ante-post fancy for the festival in March at a huge price of 16/1, stating that this was a huge price.

Well we have been proven right with the five year old running a blinder that now sees him top the market at 4/1 with the previous price long gone.

The form from last year's Champion Hurdle winner Espoir D'Allen has proven to be very strong and Saldier will only come on for that run on Saturday.

The second horse that has shot near the top of the markets for the Cheltenham festival is the forgotten Yanworth that at now nine years of age has got his career back on track moving stables.

Previously being a worthy advisory for Alan King the gelding has since been moved over to Ireland and is now with trainer Enda Bolger who specialises in Cross Country Chases.

With that in mind Yanworth, having became a horse that lost his way was tried in his first Cross Country Chase at Punchestown on Sunday.

He revelled in the experience and went on to land the 17 runner contest showing that he still holds the same ability that saw him the Grade One Christmas Hurdle and Ryanair Stayers Liverpool Hurdle.

Yanworth was 25/1 for the Cross Country Chase at the festival with the race being dominated by dual Grand National winner Tiger Roll in previous years.

However, with Gordon Elliott's stable star suffering an injury setback and the JP McManus owned performance on Sunday he is now a best price of 7/1 for the contest.

The final horse from the weekend that is certainly worth mentioning is the Phillip Hobbs trained Defi Du Seuil who made his seasonal debut this weekend and was superb.

The feature race of the Sunday at Cheltenham was the Shloer Chase and in a competitive four runner field the six year old stayed on best up the hill to secure the Grade Two contest.

Last season Defi Du Seuil was superb with his best performance coming at the festival in the JLT Novices Chase and he proved again how much loves Cheltenham with his win at the weekend.

With there being two potential races for Hobbs' stable star to go to in March he moved heavily in two different betting markets.

The Ryanair Chase looks to be his most likely contest this season at the meeting and he went in from 8/1 to now a best price of 5/1 for that contest.

The alternative option for the dual Cheltenham festival winner is the Champion Chase and he is now 7/1 for that race having previously been 16/1 before the race

It looks like it could be a huge season for the six year old.