Betting
CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL 2022: Championship Races | Antepost
What prices are the 2021 Cheltenham Festival heroes and heroines to reclaim their respective crowns next March?
In March, Henry de Bromhead made Cheltenham Festival history when recording a remarkable hat-trick of wins in the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup at the same week.
Willie Mullins still claimed the scalp as leading trainer, but the championship contests were dominated by the County Waterford yard as Honeysuckle, Put The Kettle On and Minella Indo all took the limelight at Prestbury Park, respectively.
What influence has this had on next season’s renewal?
We take a look…
UNIBET CHAMPION HURDLE CHALLENGE TROPHY | Tuesday 15th March 2022 | 3:05pm
The unbeaten Honeysuckle landed an Irish, Cheltenham and Punchestown Champion Hurdle treble last campaign and looks the real deal at two-miles.
She heads the market ahead of stable-mate Bob Olinger, whose route for this upcoming season is yet to be set in stone with novice chasing another likely possibility.
Former Festival hero Ferny Hollow took the Champion Bumper in 2020 but has only had one start, a winning one at that, over hurdles when he beat the aforementioned subsequent Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle victor at Gowran Park in November.
Not only that, he saw off the Supreme victor and fellow Closutton trained Appreciate It in the National Hunt Flat sphere in Gloucestershire.
Willie Mullins’s representation at the head of affairs for the Champion Hurdle renewal in 2022 continues with Echoes In Rain, who left a taking impression when winning a Grade 1 at Punchestown in April.
BETWAY QUEEN MOTHER CHAMPION CHASE | Wednesday 16th March 2022 | 3:05pm
The exciting unbeaten chaser Shishkin is a short-priced favourite to follow in the hoof-prints of legendary Seven Barrows contenders Sprinter Sacre and Altior in claiming Champion Chase glory a year on from Arkle success.
His battle with Energumene didn’t come to fruition in March with that rival suffering a setback, but Willie Mullins’s charge went onto secure an easy win at Punchestown a month later to set up what will be a mouthwatering clash at the Home Of Jumps Racing.
Box neighbour Chacun Pour Soi wrote the wrongs of his Cheltenham bronze medal with victory back over the Irish Sea but is the lesser fancied of the Closutton pair, although shorter in the market than Ryanair hero Allaho.
After being downed by Greaneteen at Sandown, 2021 heroine Put The Kettle On has drifted in the market despite the fact she is yet to be dethroned at Cheltenham.
PADDY POWER STAYERS HURDLE | Thursday 17th March 2022 | 3:05pm
Former Albert Bartlett fourth Thyme Hill was a Festival no-show four months ago but secured a first Grade 1 in open company in the Liverpool Hurdle at the Grand National Festival.
Klassical Dream returned to the course with a bang in County Kildare on his first attempt over three-miles and shares favouritism with Phillip Hobbs’s charge, with last season’s winner Flooring Porter a drifter after his disappointing showing last time out.
Martin Pipe winner Gallopin Des Champs proved his worth in top-level company in the aftermath of his Prestbury Park win, with silver medallist and duel Festival winner Sire Du Berlais an expected prominent figure once again.
WELLCHILD CHELTENHAM GOLD CUP | Friday 18th March 2022 | 3:05pm
It could be a case of the proven Minella Indo taking on young pretender Monkfish at next year’s blue ribbon event, with bookmakers unable to separate the Irish duo in the betting.
A Plus Tard chased his Henry de Bromhead counterpart home, and alongside Envoi Allen and Chantry House, completes a strong-line of principals with Cheltenham Festival form aplenty at the head of the bill.
Despite winning the race on two occasions, Al Boum Photo is as big as 20-1 to reclaim the trophy, just shorter than Allaho to bypass the Ryanair in favour of the week’s, and National Hunt’s, most prestigious race.
