Ante-Post Picks For Cheltenham Festival 2022
By
Gavin Beech
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4 mins
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Bob Olinger – Marsh Novices’ Chase (Already advised at 5/1)
Assuming that connections don’t go up into staying territory with Bob Olinger next season, then the 5/1 about him for the Marsh Chase looks well worth snapping up.
For me, he posted the novice hurdle performance of the week in dismissing top horses like Gaillard Du Mesnil and Bravemansgame and you would certainly not be discouraged by what trainer Henry de Bromhead told the media immediately after that seven-and-a-half length romp.
“He's built like a chaser and jumps like one so we'd normally love going that way but we'll see what everyone wants to do and work from there,” said the trainer, so it looks highly likely that he’ll be switched to the bigger obstacles next year and it is not impossible that he could go off the same sort of price that Envoi Allen did this year.
Let us hope he has more luck if he does.
Bravemansgame – Festival Novices’ Chase (Already advised at 14/1)
Drying ground wouldn’t have helped Bravemansgame in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle and he was outpointed by two horses that have more natural speed over that trip.
However, I still retain a good deal of faith in this horse and still believe that he could be a top-notcher in three-mile chases, especially on soft ground.
Paul Nicholls has been telling everyone all season how good this horse is and his physique has even earned him comparisons with the mighty Denman.
Up in trip and with fences to jump, he can show everyone just why connections rate him so highly and the 14/1 about him for the Festival Novices’ contest just looks too big.
Nicholls won the race with Topofthegame in 2019 and this fellow will surely have that race as his big 2022 target.
Elle Est Belle – Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle (Already advised at 12/1)
As I said earlier, there were a few horses to take out of the Champion Bumper given the way the race was run and Elle Est Belle was yet another one of Dan Skelton’s to run with great credit through the week.
Hopelessly placed given the way the race was run, Elle Est Belle passed every rival bar the front two, finishing her race off in really taking fashion.
Having dead-heated in a Listed bumper at the track in November, Elle Est Belle has shown that she loves Prestbury Park and connections will surely be targeting the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle with her next year.
The Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle has been dominated by the Irish so far but Elle Est Belle looks an obvious candidate for the race at this stage providing she takes well to hurdles, which is unlikely to be an issue given there are winning hurdlers in her family.
A veteran of two decades in the sports journalism industry, Gavin Beech is a very experienced horse racing writer, sports betting content producer and tipster for the likes of MailOnline, Gambling.com and the Racing Post. Not restricted to racing, he also writes about football.
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