Three winning favourites and some inspired tipping from our Timeform and Sporting Life tipsters ensured punters edged day one at Cheltenham.
Old Park Star got favourite backers off to a great start in the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle as he justified odds of 15/8, while Lossiemouth (7/5 favourite) and Madara (3/1 favourite) were very well-backed winners of the Unibet Champion Hurdle and Plate Handicap Chase, respectively.
In between all that Willie Mullins won the Arkle with his second-string Kargese at 7/1, while owner JP McManus had a 75th birthday double with Saratoga (10/1) in the Fred Winter and Johnnywho (18/1) in the Ultima Handicap Chase.
Sporting Life Plus customers were in clover as the Cheltenham Best Bets article, put together by Timeform analysts, and the Timeform TV Focus tips - available in full to logged in customers on raceday morning - ran riot through the card.
The Cheltenham Best Bets piece advised Old Park Star, Saratoga, Johnnywho and Madara, while the TV Focus team had Old Park Star, Johnnywho, Lossiemouth and National Hunt Chase winner Holloway Queen, who won the closing race at 12/1.
Andrew Asquith also made Madara his Nap in our Daily Best Bets article while Ben Linfoot had a winner in his Verdict column for the third piece running after advising Kargese for the Arkle.
It just goes to show the value of accessing Sporting Life Plus via a completely free Sporting Life, Sky Bet, Paddy Power or Betfair log-in, full details of which are below:
Sporting Life Plus members can access a wide-range of product enhancements and key tipping articles and features which aren't available anywhere else.
As ever, Sporting Life Plus users can use industry-leading racecards that include Timeform’s weight-adjusted ratings, flags and full video archive for all horses in every race.
You can add selections to your My Stable trackers and full video replays of Festival contests will be on-site 20 minutes after they finish.
And if you log-in via one of our betting partners you can place your bets directly on Sporting Life the via live odds on our racecards and widgets within stories and key tipping articles.
Talking of which, here’s the daily timetable for SL Plus content, articles that are not available to users of the general site.
Sporting Life Plus member content
09:00 Timeform/Sporting Life bankers
Racing experts from Timeform and Sporting Life reveal their strongest fancies for the Festival.
10:00 Patrick Mullins
Son and assistant trainer to Willie Mullins, jockey Patrick provides unmissable insight on Team Mullins.
10:45 Value Bet Late Play
Matt Brocklebank revisits the morning markets to add to his Value Bet portfolio.
11:00 Timeform TV Focus (all races)
Exclusive to Sporting Life Plus members is free access to Timeform TV Focus, the best bets for the televised races.
15:00 Graeme North Timefigure tips
Published ahead of the following day's racing, Timeform's Graeme North brings you his Timefigure tips.
16:00 Value Bet
Our flagship tipping column sticks to its 16:00 GMT publication time and those reading early can access exclusive enhanced prices.
17:30 Willie Mullins
The history-making trainer reveals all about his team for the following day and reflects on those to have run.
18:00 David Ord
Rounding off the day's Sporting Life Plus coverage, our man at the track brings you closer to the action with his reflections on the day.
To sign up for Sporting Life Plus for Festival week simply click here and register.
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