'It's about more than form' - Keith Melrose probes El Fabiolo's Champion Chase credentials

The increasing number of odds-on favourites at the Cheltenham Festival has become a point of general discussion. These are big debates, the sort that have the 'b' capitalised. Meanwhile, specific cases are often reduced to the yes/no question of whether the horse provides any value.

This is understandable. The difference between an evens chance and a 4-7 shot is much bigger philosophically than it is mathematically.

El Fabiolo is one of the shortest-priced favourites at the Cheltenham Festival, with 1-2 his general price after declarations were made on Monday. He could be the most under-discussed odds-on shot of the week, something owing to the ever-louder background hum of warm orders at Cheltenham. But then the Queen Mother Champion Chase has long been more susceptible than most races to an overwhelming favourite.