The 2018 Cheltenham Festival is still a few months away, but that doesn’t mean that the National Hunt’s top guns haven’t yet been named. Just recently, the horses expected to dominate next year at Cheltenham have been unveiled thanks to the recently held Ladbrokes Winter Carnival.

The high-stakes racing at the Ladbrokes Winter Carnival was one of the major events this year. But even with its magnitude, the carnival is still considered a preparatory event for next year’s Cheltenham Festival. Two of the world’s top horses that highlighted the two-day Ladbrokes Winter Carnival were Willoughby Court and Yanworth.

Willoughby won his race by three lengths. His 17-1 odds at the Ladbrokes Winter Carnival proved to be an understatement as he’s now enjoying an 8.40-1 shot for the victory in the upcoming Cheltenham Festival.

Then there’s Thistlecrack, last year’s King George VI Chase winner. It was a surprising feat for him to command an early lead in the Long Distance Hurdle on Dec. 1 as it was his comeback race from injury. Unfortunately, endurance wasn’t by his side and his misdemeanors proved too much to handle as he faded during the race’s final stages. This just proved that Thistlecrack was a pretty good starter, but not yet a well-refined finisher who might have needed a race for foundation.

This resulted in his 5.60-1 odds to decrease to a tempting 11.50-1 for the Cheltenham Festival. Take note that the smaller the number of the odds is, the bigger the chances of it winning, so if you want to take a chance on Thistlecrack at Cheltenham, you could be richly rewarded.

The Long Distance Hurdle at the Ladbrokes Winter Carnival also offered insight to the Cheltenham Festival’s upcoming National Hunt. Beer Goggles’ antics weren’t enough to overshadow the strong pursuit of Unowhatimeanharry in 2017: Unowhatimeanharry laid low during the start of the race but burst into speed late to finish a strong second to front-running winner Beer Goggles. As a result, Unowhatimeanharry’s odds for the 2018 National Hunt are 8.60-1, while Beer Goggles’ odds have floated to 36-1.

But it’s not just the aforementioned runners who are having a good time vying for next year’s National Hunt, as Mengli Khan also has an overly confident 8-1 odds.  How did he manage to achieve such a feat? Well, just look at his recent 5 ½-length victory.

When it comes to trainers to watch at Cheltenham, keep an eye on Willie Mullins, who grabbed a ray of hope for the Gold Cup. Perhaps his ability and reputation have led people to trust that he’ll defy the odds imposed on him: take note that even his 40-1 underdog Total Recall shifted to a more promising 18-1 for the upcoming Cheltenham Festival!

With this alone, it isn’t hard to see that anything can happen. Trainer Amy Murphy also had the time of her career as her Kalashnikov raced to victory at Doncaster. During his National Hunt debut race, he accelerated to overtake Irish Prophecy’s strong start and outpaced the field comfortably with a 10-length victory. Thanks to this impressive showcase of prowess, Kalashnikov landed a spot among Cheltenham’s top guns.

What can we conclude with these aforementioned top guns? The answer is simple — that they’re most likely to challenge for a victory at the 2018 Cheltenham Festival. As obvious as it sounds, that’s how things are going to work out. In fact, you can bet on any of these horses as they’re in a pretty good shape based on their previous performances.

Also consider the horses on the official favorites list, like Don’t Touch It and Foxrock who are 20-1 and 7-1 odds for the Grand Annual Chase and Foxhunter Chase, respectively. Even Act of Valour’s 25-1 odds are catching up fast on the current favorites.

But then again, don’t let your emotions cloud your decision: always put statistics before anything else. You can do this by checking what the sports bookmakers have to say. One good example of this is Freebets.co.uk.

Freebets.co.uk covers all your needs with the latest Cheltenham Festival betting tips. Not only is it filled with useful information that can help you choose the right horse, but it also lets you forecast what’s going to happen in the upcoming races. Use the insights and information provided by Freebets.co.uk for a lucrative Cheltenham Festival in the New Year.