IT'S hard to believe it's here again. The wonderful four-day Cheltenham Festival gets underway on Tuesday, with the Stan James Champion Hurdle being the highlight on the first day.

In a wide open renewal, Annie Power heads a field of 13 for the Champion Hurdle, and Nicky Henderson is still planning to run five in the race.

Willie Mullins' mare, who heads the betting, has been supplemented for the Grade One contest after the same stable's Faugheen, last year's winner, was ruled out for the season last month.

She also remains in the field for the following David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle, a race she was set to win before coming down at the final flight last year, but is an intended runner in the feature.

Heading the list of challengers is the Nicky Henderson quintet of Top Notch, Peace And Co, Hargam, Sign Of A Victory and My Tent Or Yours, the latter having been absent for almost two years, and Henderson said on Wednesday that he still intends to run all five.

The trainer reported that My Tent Or Yours is likely to be ridden by Barry Geraghty, with Mark Walsh on the fellow JP McManus-owned runner, Hargam.

Owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede will be represented by Peace And Co and Top Notch, but retained jockey Daryl Jacob has yet to pledge allegiances.

Nico de Boinville is expected to get the leg-up on whichever horse Jacob does not ride.

Andrew Tinkler will partner the other Henderson contender, Sign Of A Victory, who wears the same Matt and Laura Morgan colours the jockey carried to victory on Call The Cops in the Pertemps Final last year.

"Everyone is just sitting on the fence at the moment because of the weather," said Henderson, who has won the Champion Hurdle a joint-record five times.

"I'd imagine Barry will ride My Tent Or Yours, which means Mark Walsh would be on Hargam.

"Andrew Tinker will almost certainly ride Sign Of A Victory, but as for the other two, we're still not sure.

"Daryl will come and have a sit on them. Top Notch was out (Wednesday morning) and worked well. He'd love the ground (soft) to stay as it is, really.

"The softer ground wouldn't inconvenience Peace And Co too much, but he still has one more piece of work to do.

"Basically, Daryl will probably leave it late until he has to decide."

As well as Annie Power, Mullins could run Nichols Canyon and Sempre Medici, while Identity Thief for Henry de Bromhead adds to the Irish hand.

The home team is headed by The New One, having his third run in the race for Nigel Twiston-Davies.

One of the big stories around this year's meeting is Victoria Pendleton's quest to ride in the Foxhunters Chase next Friday.

Pendleton, who has basically learned to ride from scratch in the last year, has stated that completing the course at the Cheltenham Festival would rank alongside her golden glory days in the Olympics.

She said: "We have always had the extremely ambitious target of riding competitively in the Foxhunters as our goal, and to be part of it is a truly amazing feeling.

"This has been no walk in the park, it has been physically demanding.

"I've had to dig deep, but I never wanted to give up.

"This is hugely exciting. There'll be a phenomenal crowd at Cheltenham and I am so excited. Getting round would be incredible.

"If I get round on the horse and complete the course, I'll feel like that's a gold medal."

Pendleton focussed her sights on horse racing as part of a "switching saddles" campaign which was announced last March and has been backed by bookmakers Betfair.

The road to Cheltenham has not been smooth for Pendleton, with several hiccups along the way, but she gained her first win as a jockey on the Andy Stewart-owned Pacha Du Polder at Wincanton last week.

While she splits opinion, I think she's done really well to come this far and hope she gets a clear round.