tuesday  champion hurdle, 320  a race dominated by irish entries, with jessica harrington’s defending champion, jezki, ridden by ap mccoy but willie mullins holds the strongest hand he has three entries headed by unbeaten favourite faugheen and dual champion hurricane fly the new one, trained by nigel twiston davies and ridden by son sam, bids to atone for last year’s unlucky third ap mccoy (above riding jezki) will ride the horse in the champion hurdle on tuesday  wednesday  queen mother champion chase, 320  sprinter sacre, the 2013 winner, and last year’s champion sire de grugy, finally go head to head they must cope with form horse dodging bullets and, with front runners special tiara and dual festival winner champagne fever in the field, it will be fast and furious last year's  champion chase winner sire de grugy will finally go head to head with sprinter sacre  thursday  world hurdle, 320  with rock on ruby out and mullins trained mare annie power taking up her entry in tuesday’s mares’ hurdle, the betting is dominated by paul nicholls’s pair saphir du rheu and zarkandar the champion trainer says there is little between them there are positive vibes for nicky henderson’s whisper, while best of the irish looks to be lieutenant colonel zarkandar (above) and saphir du rheu dominate the betting in the world hurdle  friday  gold cup, 320  carlingford lough is mccoy’s last throw of the dice and he has claims in an open race featuring last year’s winner lord windermere, and the three horses who chased him home they include 2014 fourth placed silviniaco conti he seems improved with an ulcer problem sorted the concern is that his best form has been away from cheltenham holywell, road to riches, many clouds and well backed djakadam head the clutch of new kids on the block on an upward form curve who must also be considered ap mccoy will ride carlingford lough (both pictured above) in friday's gold cup  tuesday  130 l’ami serge  205 vibrato valtat  320 faugheen  400 annie power  wednesday  130 nichols canyon  205 don poli  240 activial  320 dodging bullets  thursday  130 p tit zig  205 big easy  240 foxrock  320 saphir du rheu  friday  130 peace and co  240 black hercules  320 many clouds  440 le mercurey 
cheltenham festival champion hurdle sportsmail
cheltenham festival starts on tuesday and finishes on friday . feature races include champion hurdle and the gold cup . sportsmail brings you a guide to the week's big races 