/ Editor / 12 March 2007 /

Champion Hurdle favourite Detroit City will be up against a maximum of just 10 opponents when he faces the starter for the highlight on Tuesday, the first day of this year's Cheltenham Festival.

Philip Hobbs' grey is bidding to keep the title on home soil for the first time since his stable companion Rooster Booster landed the event in 2003.

But Detroit City will have to be on the top of his game to fend off defending champion Brave Inca, and dual champion Hardy Eustace, who head a powerful Irish challenge only marginally weakened by the withdrawal at the final declaration stage of Macs Joy, Harchibald, Newmill, Al Eile and Jazz Messenger.

French raider Marble Garden has stood his ground, whilst the home team is completed by Straw Bear, Acambo, Afsoun and Kawagino. Irish pair Sublimity and Asian Maze make up the 11-strong field.

The last time so few runners contested the hurdling championship was in 1980, when the great Sea Pigeon beat Monksfield and seven other rivals.

The latest prices matched in Betfair's ante-post market are: Detroit City 3.15, Hardy Eustace 5.1, Brave Inca 5.7, Straw Bear 9, and it's 16 bar.

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