The Year Ahead: Five 'must have' ante-post bets for 2016

1) Cheltenham Festival
Back Min in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle @ 5.85/1
Tuesday, 15 March

Willie Mullins has always been a fabulous trainer, but in recent seasons he has taken the racing game to new heights, dominating major festivals on both sides of the Irish Sea.

The Cheltenham Festival in March is obviously top of his list, and he loves nothing better than to kick-off the four-day extravaganza at Prestbury Park with a winner in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

The Mullins/Rich Ricci/Ruby Walsh combination have won the festival curtain raiser for the last three years with top class animals Champagne Fever, Vautour, and Douvan, so it's highly significant to me that their new French recruit Min was installed as ante-post favourite for the same race before even stepping foot on a racecourse in England or Ireland.

The reason for the market confidence was down to rumours of some breathtaking homework, and after Min destroyed his rivals on his debut for new connections earlier this month, Mullins declared, "The rumours are true!" before going on to say, "He looks to have plenty of gears as I thought they were going a good gallop and yet he took off around halfway."

Also significant is the fact that Mullins plans to next run Min in the Grade Two Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle, the same race that both Vautour and Douvan won before winning the Supreme at Cheltenham.

Everything about Min - his reputation, his debut success, his planned future races, and not least his connections - suggests he is out of the very top drawer, and almost certainly Mullins' best Novice Hurdler at this stage. Odds of 5.85/1 may well look huge come the third week in March. MN

2) The Masters
Back Jason Day each-way @ 8/1
April 7-10

Jason Day finally got his first major win of his career at this year's USPGA after going tantalisingly close on many occasions.

And in doing so he has set up what could be a classic first major of the year at Augusta in April.

Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Day will be duking it out in a three-way battle to be 'the man' when we get down to business at the Masters.

It's a tight betting heat with all three trading at single figures but we'll be siding with the Aussie each-way at 8/1.

With two top-three finishes at Augusta we know our long, straight driver with a sweet putter can play the track and after all those years of near misses we now know he can get over the line ahead of the field. JD

3) Back New England Patriots to win Super Bowl 50 at 4.47/2
Sunday, February 7

While the Carolina Panthers have been hugely impressive this year and have arguably the stand-out QB in the game in the shape of Cam Newton, New England Patriots are still the team to beat. Beset by injuries to key players and questionable officiating already this season, Tom Brady has dragged the Pats kicking and screaming into the post-season already and his big-game experience will be key going into the business end of the year.

If Bill Belichick can get his key players back healthy, the current Super Bowl champions will take some beating and it's highly doubtful that any team can deal with their offense in a crunch game. What's more, their defense is actually pretty underrated - it's the sixth best in the league and has improved dramatically since 2014 where it was ranked down in 20th. You know, when they won Super Bowl 49...

They may be fairly short at 4.47/2, but currently that still represents value. LM

4) Back Chris Froome to win the 2016 Sports Personality of the Year at 26.025/1
December 2016

I voted for Froome this year as winning the Tour de France, whilst also taking the King of the Mountains crown is a terrific feat. Yet he didn't even finish top three. In 2016 though he could repeat as TdF winner and come away with two Gold medals in Rio, that would surely be enough to make him the prohibitive favourite to lift the trophy.

He is already listed as 2.6213/8 favourite to take the crown in Paris. The two-time champion is happy with the 2016 course and says it suits him better than when he won this year. His Sky team may have lost trusted lieutenant Richie Porte, but the additions of Michal Kwiatkowski and Mikel Landa, coupled with the growth of Geraint Thomas means that the team will be very strong again.

The 30-year-old also plans to contest both the road race and the time trial in Rio. In 2012, Sir Bradley Wiggins would do the Tour and Olympic Gold double, winning the time trial in London. He would go on to be the Sports Personality of the Year.

Froome will be either the favourite or one of the favourites for both races in Rio should he be healthy, that makes his price of 26.025/1 to win SPOTY a very generous one because if he wins all three, I'm not sure any sports man or women will be able to claim to have had a better year. NM

5) Back Robert Lewandowski to be top scorer at Euro 2016 at 17.016/1
June-July 2016

Robert Lewandowski is the standout European striker in the world so far this season, and has already scored 25 goals for club and country, including seven in six Champions League games and 15 in 14 Bundesliga starts.

There is a feeling about the big Pole that, at 27, he is coming of age and may now be in a position to surpass the goalscoring achievements of 2012-13 where his prowess helped launch Borussia Dortmund to a Champions League final. He notched 36 that year, and so is good shape to go even better this time around.

Poland have a winnable group; Germany pose a problem but Poland were able to beat them in the qualifying stages and know their local neighbours well - Lewandowski scored against the Germans back in September, too (albeit in a 3-1 defeat in the return game in Frankfurt).

Of course, they key to this market is picking someone who will go deep in the tournament, but if the Poles can start well and avoid Spain in the second round, there's no reason they can't stick around for a while. And with the exception of possibly Zlatan Ibrahimovic (who is plying his trade in a weaker league), there isn't a better European striker around than Lewandowski at the moment. 17.016/1 on him to be the top scorer of the summer is a decent bet. LM