The countdown for the 2011 Cheltenham Festival commenced as soon as the 2010 Cheltenham Festival finished. For National Hunt lovers this is the best meeting in Europe and is always eagerly awaited. There are 27 races over the 4 days and the first one on Tuesday 15th March when the meeting starts is the Stan James Supreme Novices Hurdle worth £100,000.00 and run over 2 miles. Cue Card (pictured) has been favourite for this for some time. The favourites have a poor record in this race, the last three have all been beaten. Last year Dunguib was a festival banker for many punters and started at odds on for this race. The Dunguib team got their tactics all wrong and were beaten by a certain Menorah and Get Me Out Of Here. In 2009 Cousin Vinny went off the 9/4 favourite and could finish only fifth. In 2008 Cork All Star was a 17/2 chance in a wide open market and could finish only seventh. Cue Card ran very well over the course in December when also beaten by Menorah. He seems to have improved with each run and hopefully will show us what a good horse he is on Tuesday.