There have been 12 odds-on favourites this century, only three won
Willie Mullins has won two of the last four runnings
Recommended bet: Il Etait Temps to win
The second day of the Cheltenham Festival takes place on Wednesday afternoon and the feature race is the Queen Mother Champion Chase over two miles.
Willie Mullins landed the Arkle on day one and the Festival's all-time greatest trainer has a couple of major contenders for this prize.
The latest Queen Mother Champion Chase odds are available on LiveScore Bet
Setting the scene
The landscape for this Championship race altered quite dramatically last week when reigning champion Marine Nationale was ruled out for Barry Connell with a minor setback.
That means the vacated crown will go to one of the 10-strong field set to contest the two-mile Championship race in his absence.
They include last month's impressive Dublin Racing Festival winner Majborough for the Mullins yard in the JP McManus silks, while veteran Captain Guinness is the only former winner back for another go.
It's a six-four Ireland vs Britain split, with the raiding party holding the numerical advantage.
Irish Panther steps out of novice company after just two runs over fences to take on the these proven stars, while Quilixios makes his first appearance since falling in this race 12 months ago for Henry de Bromhead.
Dan Skelton saddles November's course and distance winner L'eau Du Sud, though he was defeated by Il Etait Temps in the Tingle Creek at Sandown in December. The latter tumbled out of the Clarence House at Ascot in January when beaten.
Saint Segal for Jane Williams, Libberty Hunter for Evan Williams and Brookie for Anthony Honeyball complete the line-up.
Big race stats
There have been 12 odds-on favourites this century, only three have won.
Only one winner returned bigger odds than 11/1 since 1993.
Willie Mullins has won two of the last four renewals of this race, with Irish-based runners landing the last five.
Nine of the last 10 winners had already won or placed in a Cheltenham Festival Grade 1 race.
Majborough (third) and L'eau Du Sud (fourth) ran in last year's Arkle at this meeting.
Six winners of the Dublin Chase at the DRF have tried and failed to win this race.
Prediction
The Arkle showed on day one that in two-mile chases around here, jumping is the name of the game as first Lulamba and then Kopek Des Bordes got their moves wrong at the final two obstacles and paid the price as Kargese left them trailing.
Two-miles on the Old course is unforgiving, especially at Championship pace, and that is the big worry for Majborough and Mark Walsh here.
Odds-on favourites in this race have a torrid recent record and so do horses in headgear, both boxes set to be ticked by Majborough. His DRF win gives him every chance but the jumping remains a worry.
L'eau Du Sud failed to beat him in last year's Arkle, despite Majborough's string of mistakes, so perhaps we will see another Mullins second string scoring.
The top trainer forewarned that such things might happen and Il Etait Temps is a major player if willing to forgive his Ascot run.
He did not go with enthusiasm at any stage and the Closutton team were not firing in January.
His Tingle Creek win was a personal-best and despite being 0-3 at this festival, he has actually run with credit in very good company and he's never look better than in the last 12 months.
Back Il Etait Temps to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase @ 9/2 with LiveScore Bet
The latest Queen Mother Champion Chase odds are available on LiveScore Bet
