Laurie recently said of his love for Blues music, ‘I’ve never eaten grits, cropped a share, or ridden a boxcar. No gypsy woman said anything to my mother when I was born and there’s no hellhound on my trail, as far as I can judge.

‘Let this record show that I am a white, middle-class Englishman, openly trespassing on the music and myth of the American south.’

Hugh Laurie tickets for all upcoming performances will go on sale this Friday, 25th March.

Fourteen horses have been declared with just 48 hours to go until the big race.

Weather forecasts indicate that around 4-5mm of rain will fall at Cheltenham on Friday morning, and although it is difficult to be sure at this stage, it is very probably the ground will turn soft for the race.

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Trainer Paul Nicholls believes he has an excellent chance of achieving this goal.

Nicholls said: “I’ve been confident all along Master Minded has a chance. He’s a dual Champion Chase winner. He was struggling with his breathing last season, we sorted that out and he has won three out of three this season.”

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Favourite Hurricane fly becomes Ruby Walsh’s second win of the opening day, holding of Peddlers Cross with Oscar Whiskey third.

The horse started the 11/4 favourite after reigning champion Binocular was forced to withdraw on Sunday following a positive test for a legal substance.

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Meade hopes conditions do not become too fast by day four of the Cheltenham Festival.

“He’s travelling over today and at the moment he is a definite runner,” said the trainer.

“If the ground is like it is today on Friday he’ll run. The difficulty is it could dry out a fair bit. We’ll have to wait and see, but at the moment he’s a definite runner,” Meade told the Irish Independent.

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Cheltenham clerk of the course Simon Claisse has described conditions as good, good to soft in places ahead of the opening Supreme Novices’ Hurdle this afternoon.

“We had a dry night but we had thought we may have got a bit of drizzle. I have given the ground as good, good to soft in places this morning,” he told Channel 4′s The Morning Line.

“The forecast is for some sun this afternoon and temperatures of 13C or 14C.”

Today is the first of four days of high-octane action, with Friday’s Cheltenham Gold Cup the highlight.

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Eleven runners will take part in the race, which celebrates a centenary of the festival which takes place over four days.

The Supreme Novices’ Hurdle kicks off the Festival at 1330 GMT.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year Tony McCoy has lost his ride for the Champion Hurdle after Binocular was withdrawn.

Binocular was pulled out by trainer Nicky Henderson after he was advised that medication given for an allergy would not clear the horse’s system in time to pass a drugs test.

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Binocular, the defending champion, was ruled out on Sunday after allergy medication was found in his system which would not clear in time for Tuesday’s race.

McCoy told the Daily Telegraph: “I don’t think I have ever felt so low going into a Cheltenham Festival as I did on hearing the news that Binocular, my best ride of the meeting, was out.

“I only found out late on Saturday night when (owner) JP McManus rang to tell me, and then Nicky Henderson phoned on Sunday morning to confirm it.

“I am gutted. I feel completely hollow and will now watch the race on the TV in the changing room. I hate sitting out championship races. There will, I am sure, be plenty of downers during the week but this was a kick in the groin before it had even started.

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The 10-year-old horse has won his only outing this season in Haydock’s Betfair Chase, and will be considered as one of the favourites for Friday’s race.

Imperial Commander’s trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies told the BBC: “There is a lot more pressure this year but hopefully he’ll be back where he belongs.”

Former Gold Cup winners Kauto Star and Denman will also be taking part in the race.

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The seven-year-old horse had tested postive for a legal substance after being trated for an allergy. On advice from the British Horseracing Authority advice, Henderson was forced to withdraw the current champion.

Henderson told the BBC: “We’re all shattered but I am particularly upset for JP (McManus) who’s been incredibly understanding.”

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Although some rain is expected this weekend, it should only be in light showers. The forecast for next week is for mainly dry weather, which has caused the decision to begin watering now.

According to the Racing Post, the going at Cheltenham on Thursday was good to soft, good in places on the Old, New and cross-country courses.

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It has been confirmed that the horse has a suspensory ligament problem which will prevent him from racing for at least four months.

The eight-year-old, trained by Nick Williams, had been as short as 8-1. After beating Denman to the Hennessy Gold Cup in November, owner Paul Duffy felt it was the right decision to not race again, as Diamond Harry would perform better at the Cheltenham Gold Cup. But the injury has now ruled the horse out for the rest of the season.

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With events taking place over four days, Cheltenham has it all. Tuesday 15th of March is Centenary Day, celebrating 100 years of the festival. Wednesday the 16th is Ladies day and Thursday the 17th is, of course, St. Patrick’s Day. Friday the 18th brings the most prestigious race of the festival, The Cheltenham Gold Cup, where the racing elite will hear the famous ‘Cheltenham roar’ as they battle to cross the line first.

The Gold Cup is the biggest event of the week and will be an extremely competitive race. Imperial Commander won the race last year and is being heavily backed to triumph again this year. Kauto Star has won the race twice before but is not considered to mount much of a challenge this time. Denman finished second last year and, despite his age, will be expected to be among the front runners again. The most-fancied newcomer is Diamond Harry who, after winning the Hennessy Gold Cup in style, looks to be a real contender according to the latest betting.

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All this sets things up for the Grand National, which takes place at Aintree Racecourse from April 8th – 10th 2010. Last year’s winner Mon Mome was the longest odds winner in 42 years at 100-1, and after achieving a mightily respectable 3rd place in the Gold Cup may well begin as favourite, but the Grand National is an unpredictable race and nothing is assured besides that the Gold Cup has proved that we are in a golden era for horse racing.

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Tixdaq.com can reveal that tickets are still available, but in order to become part of the Cheltenham Roar you will have to be quick! Cheltenham Festival tickets are selling fast.

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However, David Haye has his own rivalry to worry about: although much has been said of a potential clash with either of the Klitschko brothers, before that fight can be arranged Haye must defend his WBA belt against the American John Ruiz at Manchester’s Evening News Arena on April 3rd 2010.

David Haye vs. John Ruiz tickets available now!

Tickets for Cheltenham Festival available now!

The world famous Cheltenham Festival is scheduled to take place from Tuesday 16th to Friday 19th March and tickets are now on sale for this prestigious meeting that will awelcome 200,000 punters through the turnstiles.

The festival culminates in Gold Cup Day which should see 2007 and 2009 winner Kauto Star take on 2008 winner Denman in a highly anticipated showdown between the two best National Hunt runners of a generation.

The festival is packed with Group One races and features other marquee prizes such as the Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and the World Hurdle alongside the main event.

Tickets are available from £33 and are on sale now.

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Cheltenham’s communications manager, Andy Clifton, said: “Clearly, racegoers don’t want to miss any of the excitement next March, with Denman v Kauto Star III at the top of the bill, and after the action over the last couple of weekends, who can blame them?”

Tickets to Cheltenham Festival are available to comapre and buy at tixdaq.com.

It is expected however that over £300m will be gamble over the  week’s 26 races. While on the race course itself, jockeys, trainers and owners will be competing for a record prize fund of £3.56m.

The four-day event which begins on today (March 10), is the highlight of the National Hunt calendar.

Tuesday’s card features the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle, which has been won by Irish horses seven times in the last 10 years. Binocular, owned by JP McManus and trained by Nicky Henderson, the Festival’s most successful trainer, goes into the race as favourite.

On Wednesday, Master Minded will be hoping to make it back-to-back wins in the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase after his dominant victory last year.

Thursday’s feature race is the Ladbrokes World Hurdle with the Francois Doumen-trained Kasbah Bliss aiming to go one better than last year when he finished second to three-time winner Inglis Drever.

But much of the festival interest surrounds Friday’s Gold Cup, the highlight of the Jumps season. The Queen could be enjoying her first Cheltenham success with Barbers Shop, who has had a couple of good runs at the track. Denman triumphed over his stablemates Kauto Star last year but since then has had treatment for heart problems and has looked unconvincing this season. Meanwhile Kauto Star, the 2007 winner, has bounced back in style this season and on his last appearance in the King George VI Chase in December was a comfortable winner.

Tickets for this weeks Cheltenham Festival are still available from £33.