For horse racing fans around the world, some of the best events throughout the year take place in the UK. When it comes to national hunt racing, the UK schedule is dominated by the Grand National and the Cheltenham Festival.
While the Grand National is a great one-off event, the Cheltenham Festival offers four days of action and 28 races where the best of the best take each other on. Runners from the UK will battle it out against those from Ireland, to see who comes out on top, in what is going to be a very exciting week for spectators.
Headlining is the Gold Cup, the feature race of the meeting, and the latest Cheltenham races odds show that we could be in for an epic encounter. A Plus Tard is currently the +370 favorite, but behind him, we have Galvin at +400, who won at the festival last year, Minella Indo at +740, who won the Gold Cup last year, and Al Boum Photo at +1250, winner of the Gold Cup in 2019 and 2020.
We often find a great deal of excitement in the build-up towards the Gold Cup, and this year, it could be even bigger given how the race is shaping up. One element of the race is the strength of the Irish challengers: they have won the race for the last three years, and of the contenders at the head of the market, almost all are from Ireland.
Elsewhere, both the UK & Ireland have what appears to be a banker in one of the other Championship races over the week.
Honeysuckle and Shishkin Set to Dominate
The wonder mare Honeysuckle won the Champion Hurdle in 2021 with ease, striding up the hill and away from her rivals. She is back to try and do the same again and faces a field consisting of rivals she has already beaten in the past, and unproven horses who are still finding their feet at the top level.
🗣 "We've got chances in all of them."@sevenbarrows discusses his 4️⃣ runners in this year's championship races
🏇 Champion Hurdle: Epatante
🏇 Champion Chase: Shishkin
🏇 Stayers' Hurdle: Champ
🏇 Gold Cup: Chantry House pic.twitter.com/UmnnydRXVF— Racing TV (@RacingTV) February 28, 2022
She has been the favorite for this contest since winning it last season and looks as though she will be incredibly tough to beat.
A day after Honeysuckle runs, we will see what many believe to be the UK banker of the meeting, Shishkin. The Nicky Henderson-trained runner won the Arkle at the 2021 festival and looks capable of dominating the division for many years to come.
The big positive for Shishkin is that he has already beaten his nearest rival Energumene this year, Shishkin won the battle when they faced each other at Ascot. The Cheltenham hill is likely to play into his staying strengths too, which is why many are so confident of him confirming the form when they meet again at the festival.
We are going to see some great clashes at the festival, and when it comes to the championship races, some of the biggest names from the UK & Ireland are set to prove their brilliance on the track.
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