LAST year’s Cheltenham Champion Bumper hero Black Hercules is the ante-post favourite for the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, for which a total of 97 entries were revealed this week.

Trained by Willie Mullins, Black Hercules most recently won a Grade 3 hurdle at Cork in December and is one of 21 entered by his trainer for the three-mile Cheltenham contest.