The first race of the Cheltenham Festival, the Supreme Novices Hurdle, is looking wide-open with bookies betting 6-1 the field and Coral has opened a book on which horse will start favourite when the tapes go up on Tuesday.

Coral make Rippling Ring the 3/1 favourite to head the market with Muirhead next best at 4/1 and Captain Cee Bee and Khyber Kim 9/2.

"Usually the Supreme Novice Hurdle features a short-priced favourite, often Irish trained, which the Cheltenham hoards pile their cash on to try and get their Festival off to a winning start. This year in contrast the race is wide-open and we are even betting 3/1 the field just on which horse will start favourite," said Simon Clare, Coral spokesman.

"Given the recent big race record of Paul Nicholls, and the popularity of Ruby Walsh, Rippling Ring looks the most likely to start favourite, but it would only need the Irish punters to get behind Muirhead or perhaps Captain Cee Bee to see one of them head the market," added Clare.