Preparations are almost complete and anticipation is building for the 2023 Cheltenham Festival.
Last year more than 280,000 racegoers flocked to Prestbury Park to see the best horses compete for top honours.
Some punters will be supporting favourites, while others prefer to find longshots across the 28 races.
Last year, 12 horses won as favourite yet outsiders struck too with the biggest priced winner at the 2022 meeting going in at 50-1 and four other races were won by horse at odds of 22-1 or more, all of them in handicaps.
Constitution Hill, hot favourite for the Champion Hurdle, is set to go off the shortest priced runner of the meeting on Tuesday, often the worst day of the week for bookmakers.
Wet weather could bring some horses into play that may not have produced their best so far this campaign due to dry conditions, so there could be some value to be found.
Here are five dark horses to consider at each way odds at this year's Cheltenham Festival :
Icare Allen - Coral Cup (20-1)
Three of the last four winners have gone in at prices of 50-1, 33-1 and 28-1 and only one favourite has won in the last ten years. No wonder it’s bookmaker sponsored.
With 26 runners it is all to play for and there will almost certainly be some dark horses among the field who have yet to show their full potential at this level.
Icare Allen could be one of those. He was good enough to finish fourth in the Triumph Hurdle last year and ran as if he wanted further on his handicap debut in December.
He was never in the hunt in the Betfair Hurdle, which was run on good ground, and a return to a softer surface is going to be a plus.
Battleoverdoyen - Grand Annual (33-1)
A bit of ringcraft is a valuable asset in this race in which the oldies enjoy a good record.
Battleoverdoyen, who is ten, was a beaten favourite in the 2019 Ballymore and is a Grade 1 winner as a novice, finishing fourth in the 2020 RSA.
He has tried most trips but a drop to 2m appears to have reinvigorated him on the evidence of his last time out third in a Grade 3.
Jet Of Magic - Pertemps Final (20-1)
If Paul Nicholls’s hotpots strike out this week he may have to make do with success on the Cheltenham undercard.
Jet Of Magic looks a likely candidate at each way odds to figure in this handicap, in which there is less chance of a dark horse lurking due to the qualifying process.
Ignore his last start as he unseated his inexperienced rider at the second but before that he finished third in a Grade 3 handicap at Sandown and was second over this course and distance on soft ground on New Year’s Day.
War Lord - Magners Plate (20-1)
The Tizzard runner finished fourth in last year’s Arkle, staying on at the finish, and was second at Aintree.
He was exposed at senior level in the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter first time up but ran well to finish second to Gemironde at Wetherby on his handicap chase debut.
He is now 6lb better off with that winner and has shown his best form on a soft surface.
Rapper - Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Chase (25-1)
Won over course and distance on New Year’s Day and 3m might have been a bit short for him last time at Sandown.
He still ran well and at his best form a race like this should be well within his scope with Alice Stevens taking 3lb off.
