A look ahead to each of the races, with the thoughts of Jonathan Doidge below. We start with the first race of the day...

Four of the last ten favourites have won this but of greater significance is trainer Willie Mullins, who has landed five of the last six renewals, including with 100/1 shot Poniros 12-months ago.

I’ll be honest, it’s not a race I have a strong view on. There are numerous runners that can have cases made and perhaps it can be a year for a smaller trainer to make a big name for himself, so I’m happy to side with Minella Study for the Northumberland yard of Adam Nicol.

He’s 3-3 so far, having won in Listed company, as well as in this track’s trial for this race in December. He beat Winston Junior (second in the Fred Winter on Tuesday) by more than six lengths there and he’s an each-way player on horse racing betting sites at 7/1 against the big guns.

The Cheltenham Festival is back as the National Hunt jump racing season gathers pace with the four-day bonanza of horseracing goodness one of the highlights of the sport’s calendar.

The Festival began with Champion Day before Ladies Day and then St Patrick’s Thursday, with Gold Cup Day bringing the event to a close on Friday.

Full race schedule for Gold Cup day

1.20: JCB Triumph Hurdle

2.00: William Hill County Handicap Hurdle

2.40: Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Steeple Chase

3.20: Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle

4.40: Princess Royal Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Steeple Chase

5.20: Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle

Harry Redknapp is on the verge of achieving a dream. The former Premier League manager, King of the Jungle and horseracing enthusiast has his sights on one thing this week and that is Friday’s Gold Cup.

Why, you ask? Because the 79-year-old, who has been discussed in Tottenham Hotspur circles about a shock return with the club dragged into a relegation battle, owns one of the leading contenders and has a strong chance of writing himself into Cheltenham Festival folklore.

Sipping from a glass of the finest Pauillac wine, fetching £355 a bottle, Phil Wynn appreciates that he’s got one of the best views of the Cheltenham Festival.

While the masses bear the brunt of the rain and wind 100 feet below, the company director lounges in the waiter-served panoramic restaurant where gin and maple cured trout and a rack of Cotswolds lamb feature among the culinary delights on the menu.

Shielded by clear windows, in the distance diners can make out figures huddled together in the wind-swept stand of the cheapest tickets at the festival: the Best Mate Enclosure.

Winning one of the most prestigious races of the horseracing calendar would give Redknapp closer on a journey of love, respect and enjoyment that began with his grandmother, Maggie Brown, who was a bookmaker's runner in London's East End.

Redknapp explained how his life has always intertwined with horseracing and how, from the age of eight, his interest in the sport has only grown.

You can watch the first six races of each day, including Friday’s Gold Cup, with the ITV1 broadcast, while full coverage of the meeting, including the final race of each day is only available through a Racing TV subscription.

Both ITV and Racing TV provide live streams for the coverage through their apps and websites, while fans can of course tune on via the traditional television broadcast. Several betting sites will also be streaming the action, but in most cases you need to have a funded account.

The trainer of last year’s Gold Cup winning horse Inothewayurthinkin is Gavin Cromwell and he has been speaking about the prospects of his charge regaining his title today.

He told William Hill: “Inothewayurthinkin is back to defend the Gold Cup and he’ll have the cheekpieces on this time. We schooled him in them the other week and they certainly seemed to sharpen up his jumping.

“He’s certainly a different horse to what he was a month ago. He’s taken a big step forward and it remains to be seen whether that’ll be enough for him to win the race again, but hopefully it is.”

The Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup, to give it its full name, takes place on the concluding day of the festival, Friday 13 March at 4pm.

It is the fifth race of the day’s schedule and at three miles and two-and-a-half furlongs is the second longest race of the four-day event.

Harry Redknapp owns The Jukebox Man, who runs in the Gold Cup today, and is excited for his chances.

"Sandra and I are pretty quiet away from everything, believe you me,” he said.

“But I said to her, 'Can you believe it? We're coming to Cheltenham and everyone is saying, 'Good luck to the Jukebox on Friday, Harry'.

"We just get on with it though. We're not Billy big heads or anything. We just get on with it. I talk to everybody. It doesn't cost nothing to be nice to people.

“People ask me about The Jukebox Man more than football! I've been to theatres to do Q&As and they all come up to me afterwards. They've not actually come to see me really, they've just come to ask me about The Jukebox Man!

“If I see the boys who used to play for me, they all talk about it. Whenever I've bashed into any of the lads who I've managed, they always ask about racing!”