With four odds-on favourites, the opening act of this year's Cheltenham Festival could be a blockbuster for punters and the grisliest horror show imaginable for bookmakers.

The weight of the hopeful hordes’ cash will surely be plunged into an accumulator of Tuesday's market leaders: Kopek Des Bordes, Majborough, Lossiemouth, and Constitution Hill. It might not pay for your week, but if Nicky Henderson's stable star brings up the last leg in the showpiece Champion Hurdle, it will raise the roof and give you a memory for a lifetime.

There were few more fittingly named winners here than 2006 Gold Cup champion War of Attrition — because that's exactly what The Festival is. With 28 races across four days, it always leaves more questions than answers, despite the unrelenting chatter of recent weeks.

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Sometimes you can go value hunting and be left half-heartedly cheering home your well-priced loser as the smart-money favourite romps home. Gordon Elliott has made a career of defying convention. If some of his rival trainers epitomise the tweed-and-trilby stereotype of jumps racing, Elliott is most at home in his jeans, woolly hat, and tatty bomber jacket.

And the former panel beater's son has the ammunition to upset Constitution Hill with his classy mare Brighterdaysahead in the Unibet Champion Hurdle (4.00pm). Henderson's unbeaten market leader ambled around Cheltenham to win on his last start at Trials Day, but Elliott's charge was scintillating in a 30-length victory at Leopardstown at Christmas.

Constitution Hill could well be a generational talent, and plenty of sages predict nothing will get within five lengths of him — indeed, give yourself some interest with a side investment on him beating Espoir D'Allen's 15-length record-winning margin from 2019.

His performance two years ago was stunning, but a respiratory infection and subsequent bout of colic ruled him out of his defence 12 months ago. Watching Brighterdaysahead on the gallops on Monday, it was clear the second favourite has filled out and strengthened after 12 weeks of flawless preparation for this hottest of tests.

It is 30 years since Willie Mullins won the first of his 103 races at the Festival, and you can expect him to add to the tally with a trifecta of equine talent from Closutton.

They don't call Kopek Des Bordes “Kopek the Banker” for nothing. Three races, three wins — including a real eye-catcher at his last start at the Dublin Racing Festival — make him hard to overlook in the Michael O'Sullivan Supreme Novices' Hurdle (1.20pm).

Majborough is equally hard to dismiss in the My Pension Expert Arkle Trophy (2.00pm), and Lossiemouth will surely oblige on her favourite status in the Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle (3.20pm) after a late call to swerve the Champion Hurdle.

Henry de Bromhead's July Flower has never finished outside the places in five starts, and while the Mares' Hurdle looks like a significant step up in class, he and Rachael Blackmore know what it takes to win this race — making them an intriguing each-way play.

The Ultima Handicap Chase (2.40pm) offers a chance to be a little less predictable. While it's not traditionally a race for Ireland's Green Team, Paul Gilligan's Sequestered appears each-way value, having shown significant improvement this season.

Joseph O'Brien won the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap (4.40pm) last year and fires two live chances at the race, with preference given to Beyond Your Dreams over stablemate Puturhandstogether.

If Mullins seems primed to land an opening-day three-timer, so too does owner JP McManus, whose yellow-and-green colours have dominated here since Mister Donovan landed the first of his 74 winners in 1982.

Trained just a few miles down the road by Jonjo O'Neill, Hasthing was an eye-catching two from three this season until failing to cope with a step up to three miles on his last appearance at Ascot.

However, put that run aside — he's a big horse quickly overcoming his novicey tendencies, and he'll relish the pace of a Festival showdown and the better ground in the National Hunt Challenge Cup (5.20pm).

Selections:

1.20 Kopek Des Bordes

2.00 Majborough

2.40 Sequestered (e/w)

3.20 Lossiemouth; July Flower (e/w)

4.00 Brighterdaysahead

4.40 Beyond Your Dreams,

5.20 Hasthing