The Best 5 Cheltenham Festival 2022 Ante-post Bets to Place

We all seen the ante-post bets people had placed on the 2022 Cheltenham Festival, with some punters sitting on huge prices for the likes of Appreciate It, Chacun Pour Soi and Shiskin, but what are the bets to place now for the 2022 Festival?

There is obviously a massive risk with these types of bets because if the horse doesn’t run in the race you’ve selected then your bet is a loser (it will not be voided under ante-post rules). However, the rewards are potentially big and you could be sitting on a few big prices when the 2022 Festival comes around, with horses that are likely to go off much shorter in the betting.

Below we have picked out five ante-post bets you could place now, ready for the 2022 Cheltenham Festival next March.

 

2022 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle

Sir Gerhard was one of eight horses removed from Gordon Elliott, who was subsequently banned for bringing racing into disrepute, by Cheveley Park Stud in early March, 2021. However, Elliott’s loss was Willie Mullins’ gain, because the 6-year-old Jeremy gelding made all the running under Rachael Blackmore to win the Weatherby Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival and, in so doing, gave the Co. Carlow trainer his eleventh win in the race. The second horse home, Kilcruit, also trained by Mullins, had looked something special when winning impressively at Leopardstown in February, so the form is compelling.

Selection: Sir Gerhard (5/1 with Bet365)

 

2022 Marsh Novices’ Chase

Monmiral, who is owned by Sir Alex Ferguson and John Hales, among others, was promoted to second favourite for the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival with one bookmaker after winning at Doncaster in December.  Indeed, collateral form lines involving Adagio, who finished second in that race, suggest that Monmiral may well have won, had he been allowed to take his chance. However, according to trainer Paul Nicholls, his future lies over fences and, with that in mind, he is being looked after.  The son of excellent jumps sire Saint Des Saints could make a top-class novice chaser in due course and his current odds look generous in the extreme.

Selection: Monmiral (40/1 with Unibet)

 

2022 Stayers’ Hurdle

Flooring Porter first emerged as a contender for the Stayers’ Hurdle at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival with an easy, 12-length victory over subsequent Pertemps Network Final runner-up, The Bosses Oscar, at Navan in December. He followed that effort with a 6-length defeat of The Storyteller in the Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle – his first Grade One victory – and wasn’t seen again until making all the running to win the Stayers’ Hurdle, unchallenged, by 3¼ lengths. The stayers’ division lacks strength in depth so, having beaten defending champion Paisley Park fair and square, he looks a decent bet to follow up in 2022.

Flooring Porter (6/1 with Betfred)

 

2022 Mares’ Novice Hurdle

Although she missed the Cheltenham Festival to wait for Aintree, for no other reason that her trainer, Pam Sly, felt the Weatherbys Champion Bumper came too soon for her, Eileendover is a very, very smart mare, who shouldn’t be underestimated. She won her first two starts in ‘junior’ bumpers by an aggregate of 45 lengths and took a step up in class and distance in her stride when readily winning a Listed race, over an extended 2 miles, at Market Rasen in January. That form was franked by the third horse, Grangee, trained by Willie Mullins, who won a Grade Two contest at Leopardstwon in February before finishing sixth in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper.

Selection: Eileendover (12/1 with Paddy Power)

 

Cheltenham Gold Cup

Having finished a respectable third on his hat-trick attempt in 2021, Al Boum Photo may still be a force to be reckoned with by the time the 2022 Cheltenham Gold Cup rolls around. However, Willie Mullins appears to have a worthy ante-post favourite in the form of the 7-year-old Monkfish in any case. Already twice a winner at the Cheltenham Festival, Monkfish surivived a monumental blunder at the final fence when maintaining his 100% record over fences in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase but, while he clearly has room for improvement in his jumping, he has more than enough natural ability to become a bona fide Gold Cup contender.

Selection: Monkfish (5/1 with Bet365)

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