Ante-post betting on the Cheltenham Gold Cup has been given a shot in the arm after bookies William Hill opened a market on the race without runners from the all-conquering Paul Nicholls stable.

Hills makes Albertas Run, Exotic Dancer and Tidal Bay 9-2 co-favourites in the absence of Nicholls big guns Denman, Kauto Star and Neptunes Collonges who filled the first three places in the 2008 renewal.

The Gold Cup ante-post market has seen very little activity with last year's winner Denman having a delayed start to his season after suffering from a fibrillating heart.

Denman, who is scheduled to make his seasonal debut in the Aon Chase at Newbury on 7 February, is a best-priced 7-4 with Paddy Power while 2007 Gold Cup winner Kauto Star is almost challenging for favouritism with some firms after an impressive third consecutive King George VI Chase win at Kempton on Boxing Day.

Kauto Star will go straight to Cheltenham without another run while Nicholls's third-string Neptunes Collonges, who fell in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown over Christmas, remains third favourite at best odds of 8-1 with Bet365 and Paddy Power.

But with the champion trainer's runners out of the equation with William Hill, there is now renewed interest before Denman's first run as a nine-year-old.

Hills formed the market to give punters a different option than the normal win and place betting in the Gold Cup.

Spokeswoman Kate Miller said: "We've offered the market as an alternative more than anything.

"We're sure that punters are realistic about Nicholls's chance of getting at least the first two home, and this market offers them the chance to bet each-way much further down the field than in a traditional win market."

Nicholls could have as many as five runners in the Gold Cup on 13 March which would mean Hills could end up paying out on the eighth place finisher should he emulate Michael Dickinson's 1983 feat of sending out the first five home in steeplechasing's blue riband event.

Miller added: "If Nicholls has the first five home in the Gold Cup - a 40-1 chance with William Hill - then we'll pay down to eighth place with our quarter the odds 1-2-3 terms on the market without him.

"It's a pretty steady market but, at the moment, Halcon Genelardais has been attracting plenty of attention and we're now 14-1 from 16-1."