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I am Maximus (Nicky Henderson)
Won a bumper at Cheltenham last October beating the subsequent Grade One winner My Drogo over hurdles. He’s very highly though of by the Nicky Henderson team at Seven Barrows and is definitely one to follow this campaign in the novice hurdle division.
Shishkin (Nicky Henderson)
He doesn’t really need any introduction. His success in the novice chase division at the Cheltenham and Aintree Festivals last season added to his win in the Supreme Novices Hurdle the season before marks him down as a future great if he continues in the same vein. He has the potential to go all the way to the very top. Henderson has stated that he will start out over two miles this season and and take it from there. The Champion Chase 2022 at the Festival next March will be high on his target list.
Secret Reprieve (Evan Williams)
Last season’s Welsh Grand National just missed the cut in the Aintree Grand National as his rating was too low. He is definitely a player in the big staying chases again this season though with the Ladbroke Trophy at Newbury and possibly another tilt at the 2022 Aintree Grand National looking a really good fit for him.
Bob Olinger (Henry de Bromhead)
A really impressive winner of the Ballymore Novices Hurdle last March and gives the impression that he has everything it takes to be a champion. He’s switched to novice chases this season and he really has the look of a Gold Cup horses in the making next season. It will be interesting to see what sort of campaign he will have until a possible tile at the Marsh Chase next March at Cheltenham 2022 but Rachael Blackmore’s face just lights up when she talks about him. He is the real deal.
Honeysuckle (Henry de Bromhead)
The reigning Champion Hurdle winner will no doubt be attempting to go back-to-back in the feature race on day one of the 2022 Cheltenham Festival. She could follow a similar path in Ireland until then and should really be mopping up those races on the way to defending her crown. Another for the Henry de Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore combo.
Kilcruit (Willie Mullins)
He finished second to Sir Gerhard in the Cheltenham Bumper last season but followed up at the Punchestown Festival. There is no doubting the raw ability he has and coming from Willie Mullins’ yard everything will be geared towards one of the novice hurdles of either the Supreme Novices Hurdle or Ballymore Novices Hurdle at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival next March.
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Ferny Hollow (Willie Mullins)
The only one to beat Bob Ollinger in his career to date when beating him at Gowan Park in 2020, but unfortunately hasn’t run since. Won the Champion Bumper from subsequent 2021 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner Appreciate It back in March 2020. Ferny Hollow’s form is top class and is likely to go novice chasing this season. Could yet be anything.
Minella Indo (Henry de Bromhead)
The reigning Gold Cup winner is a proven Cheltenham performer who won the Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle in 2019 and was just chinned in the RSA Chase a year later when Champ came from the clouds to deny him. I ignored him last season after a poor run against Kemboy in the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup, having fallen at Leopardstown when favourite for the Savills Chase.
He eventually showed his worth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and has to be on the short-list for the 2022 Gold Cup especially with his record at the Festival.
Bravemansgame (Paul Nicholls)
I saw him win the Challow Hurdle at Newbury and he looked like a monster in the making, but I was surprised by how weak he looked at the start for the Ballymore Hurdle last season where he looked like he would need another year to develop. He finished a distant third to Bob Olinger that day before being a beaten favourite at Aintree afterwards. If he is a little bit stronger this season he could make the step up in grade that will be needed to challenge the Irish horses at the Festival next season. In the meantime, he should be hard to beat when novice chasing in the first half of the season at worst. Could reappear at Chepstow this weekend.
Three Stripe Life (Gordon Elliott)
The five-year-old gelding finished fourth to Sir Gerhard in the Champion Bumper after winning on debut at Navan. He got very upset in the preliminaries at Cheltenham on just his second racecourse appearance and that didn’t help his cause. He should be better than he showed that day and won’t have too much of a gap to close in the novice hurdle ranks this season if he takes the route. We should hear plenty more about him for wither the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle or the Ballymore Novices Hurdle given what he showed against the leading bumper horses last season.
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