This year the odds on favourite to win the Top Trainer is Paul Nichols and although he is looking very hard to beat, given the much longer odds of some of the less popular trainers they are certainly worth considering. The second favourite is Nicky Henderson and in third place is Willie Mullins.

Willie Mullins is an Irish trainer and was born in Co Carlow, Ireland in 1956. He was born into a horse racing family and started in the business by working for his father Paddy Mullins. Willie became a jockey and as an amateur was awarded the Irish Champion Amateur Jockey on three occasions. In 1996 he won the Cheltenham Bumper.

Currently he is considered to be the best trainer in Ireland and is certainly one of the country’s mist successful jump trainers. His career as a trainer began in 1988 and as a trainer his success include Hedgehunter which won the Grand National in 2005 Quevega which won the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2009 and Mikael d’Haguenet which won the Ballymore Properties Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in the same year.

Possibly his most famous horse is Florida Pearl. This horse was owned by Mrs Violet O’Leary. It won twice at the Cheltenham Festival in both the King George VI Chase and the Champion Bumper. It also won the King George VI Chase and was a four times winner of the Hennessy Gold Cup in Ireland.

Ruby Walsh is his stable jockey as well as working for Paul Nichols. Willie Mullins trains around fifty horses at a time and his emphasis is on festivals such as the Cheltenham. This year anticipate some great results from them.

For all of the latest odds and Cheltenham Betting markets visit Betfair.com.

If you are new to placing sports bets then it can seem daunting. You load up a site and you are met with flashing offers, categories and text that can make the whole process seem complicated.

Truth is all you need to do is sign up to a site to get going. This is a very easy process and will take even the newest of players just a few minutes. Generally it asks for your name, address, date of birth and email address. Although some sites will ask for your contact number and details on how you found their website in the first place. You will probably be asked to verify your email address.

Once you have done this you have to fund your account. If you are using a debit or credit card then this is no different to shopping online. Just enter your card details and how much you want to fund. You can also use Pay pal etc on some sites and funding this way works the same.

Now you will be on the site and logged in. Just click the category you want to bet on (horse racing, football, rugby etc) and follow the links from there.

This part is extremely easy and usually if you are lucky enough to be a winner the winnings are paid automatically into your betting account so you don’t need to do anything to claim them!