The Cheltenham Festival is beginning to come firmly into view and Telegraph Sport is here to help you sharpen up your punting portfolios ahead of the most exciting four days in jump racing.

Between now and the opening day of the meeting, Telegraph Sport will bring you a host of top selections from handicaps to the Gold Cup itself that will hopefully help you to turn a profit at the meeting.

Each week, new selections from our team of crack tipsters will be posted on this page along with advised prices. We will also offer you new trends every few days focussing on a different race at the meeting to further inform your selections.

Telegraph Sport

The Wallpark (Stayers’ Hurdle – March 13)
1pt win at 14-1

Teahupoo romped home to win this for Gordon Elliott last season and he certainly has every chance of replicating that feat again this time around. However, even-money odds are not tempting, especially in a race that has the propensity to throw up the odd shock.

With that in mind, it might be worth chancing the favourites less-fancied stablemate, The Wallpark, who has looked seriously progressive in his first season with Elliott.

He reeled four straight wins to start the campaign, including most recently at Cheltenham where he stayed on readily up the hill to get the better of Gowel Road over the Old course.

Some suspect jumping caught him out when upped to Grade-1 level at Ascot next time but he stayed on much the best that day and with that in mind there would have to be a chance he’d relish the stiffer finish of Cheltenham’s New course.

He looks the progressive horse in a field of known quantities and will likely be a single-figure price come March.

Trends

Supreme Novices’ Hurdle

Opening race of the meeting and one that often sets the tone for much of action on the course for the week to come.

There are both key things to ignore and key things to factor into your selection here. Winners in the last 12 years after all been five or six years of age, bar one, while ten of those winners were also successful last time out.

Eight of the last 12 winners were trained in Ireland, with five of those winning the Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown the month before the meeting.

Less important is course form (this always tends to be the case in novice races) but it is still worth noting that only four of the last 12 winners had run at Cheltenham before taking the race.