Mullins pins hopes on Quel Esprit

A positive bulletin from Willie Mullins on his best chances at the Cheltenham Festival has seen a gamble develop on Quel Esprit for the Neptune Investments Novices Hurdle next Wednesday.

The Irish Champion trainer nominated the former smart bumper horse as one of his 'better chances' at a recent Festival preview evening and the six-year-old is now 6/1 from 7s with Sky Bet.

Matt Doyle of Sky Bet said: "Mullins is never wide of the mark when he assesses his Cheltenham team and Quel Esprit is now the main market rival to Rite of Passage.'

"We've seen decent money with a gamble gathering momentum and the trainer's affect on the market is there for all to see as his charge was as big as 12s only last week."

Enhanced claims

Quel Esprit won his first two starts over hurdles this season to enhance his Festival claims before suffering a shock odds-on defeat behind Coole River at Leopardstown in January.

Quantatitive Easing, is the other big mover of the day for the Coral Cup and is now into 10/1 from 12s despite holding multiple festival entries.

Doyle added: "The alarm bells always ring when one of JP's is backed and this unexposed novice could be heading down the handicap route after a stream of significant bets."

Among the other market moves to note with Sky Bet, there was each-support for Fighting Chance (18/1 from 33s) in the Grand Annual and Drumbaloo (10/1 from 12s) in the Champion Festival Bumper.

Click on the link for the latest Cheltenham betting odds