The Cheltenham Festival is back and with spectators finally back in attendance for the first time since 2020, anticipation is building for four days of action-packed horse racing at Prestbury Park. It’s always difficult to tell who will reign supreme across the Festival’s variety of Grade One races, and even if a horse comes in as a favourite in the Cheltenham 2022 odds, there’s no guarantee they’ll win due to Cheltenham’s unpredictability.
Despite the form guide having less influence than usual over the Festival’s busy schedule, there are obviously some horses who are in better form than others. Read on, as we take a look at the horses who may have notched up some impressive recent victories, or have entered a purple patch right on queue ahead of this year’s Cheltenham Festival.
Honeysuckle
What a Festival it was for Henry de Bromhead this time last year. The Irishman enjoyed a Cheltenham to remember when he completed a clean sweep — with a dominant Champion Hurdle performance courtesy of Honeysuckle. The mercurial mare has preserved a 100% record in the year since and will be looking at winning consecutive races at Cheltenham, with 14 wins out of 14 including victory in the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown.
With Rachael Blackmore aboard, who herself has been riding the crest of a wave over the last year, enjoying plenty of individual spoils including Top Jockey and the sports personalities World Sport Star of the Year, it’s a recipe that can only ever end up with Honeysuckle tasting another victory come mid-March as the favourite amongst most Cheltenham races tips. A win which could serve as a catalyst for a real dynasty of Cheltenham dominance.
Shishkin
A lot of the talk surrounding the Queen Mother Champion Chase will be around the ongoing rivalry between Willie Mullins-trained Energumene and Shishkin. With the latter narrowly winning the Clarence House Chase at Ascot back in January, a rematch between the two certainly proves to be an interesting proposition, especially when the likes of Envoi Allen and Energumene’s stablemate Chacun Pour Soi are also capable of winning.
Having won all seven of his steeplechases including the recent wins at Ascot and Kempton, you could argue that Shishkin is the most inform runner for the Champion Chase and looks most likely to secure another Cheltenham winner for trainer Nicky Henderson.
Conflated
Almost out of nowhere, Conflated shoved himself back into the Gold Cup spotlight when he won the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown unexpectedly at 18/1. All of a sudden, the Gordon Elliott-trained eight-year-old has seen his odds drastically improved — expected to now be competing alongside stablemate Galvin and A Plus Tard in the running for Cheltenham’s most prestigious prize.
While the win will be a great boost for Elliott’s hopes of a winner, especially considering he missed out on last year’s Festival whilst serving a six-month ban, Conflated had been quietly going about his business regardless, winning at Navan in the Foxrock Handicap Chase after narrowly finishing as a runner up to De Bromhead’s Eklat De Rire back in October. It sets up a new dynamic in the Gold Cup, which proves to be one of the closest races in recent years given the plethora of previous Grade One winners on display.
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