Cheltenham Festival: Who YOUR region is backing for glory in Gloucestershire

We’re nearly at the stage where the talking stops and the action gets underway at Cheltenham.

There has been a number of withdrawals from the festival, including Thistlecrack, Annie Power, Faugheen, Sprinter Sacre, Getabird and Min but it still promises to be quite a spectacle.

With the remaining horses still on course for Cheltenham, Oddschecker have taken a look at how the betting breaks down throughout UK regions and how betting behaviour differs between counties.

As you would expect, London accounts for the highest number of bets in the ante post markets at 16%.

Support from London seems to be with horses that have had recent success, with Ballyandy and Yanworth the most popular bets having won the Betfair Hurdle and Kingwell Hurdle respectively.

Other popular horses include Yorkhill in both the West Midlands and Yorkshire, as well as Djakadam who features in a lot of regions.

Ireland, notoriously hugely involved in Cheltenham, supplying horses, trainers and many more in the organisation of the festival, go with two Irish horses as their most popular.

They are Alpha Des Obeaux and Jezki. Alpha Des Obeaux was beaten only by Thistlecrack in the Stayers’ Hurdle (previously named the World Hurdle) last year and Jezki won the Champion Hurdle in 2014, so it’s no surprise really to see them near the top of the popularity list.