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Who are the trainers to follow at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival?

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So you’re heading into another Cheltenham Festival but wondering where to wager. Planet Sport’s Jonathan Doidge has come up with a list of trainers whose runners must be considered.

It's the nature of racing, isn't it… the jockeys grab the glory after getting their horse home in front, but without their equine partner being produced to deliver the goods on the day, there would be no Cheltenham Festival glory.

So who should you follow? Who are the trainers who have proved they can deliver the goods on the biggest stage of all?

Willie Mullins - 78 Cheltenham winners

The master of Closutton has become a Cheltenham phenomenon. A record 78 winners have been sent out from Willie Mullins' County Carlaw yard and he looks certain to raise the bar even higher in March.

With the quality of thoroughbred at his disposal it would be a surprise if anyone else becomes the first to train 100 winners at the Festival and at recent rates that may only be four or five years away.
Mullins waited a long time to saddle his first Gold Cup winner but, like the proverbial London bus, once he did so, he struck again immediately with 2019 and 2020 winner Al Boum Photo.
He's also won four Champion Hurdles, two Stayers' Hurdles and four Ryanair Chases. Anything saddled by this man across the four days of the Festival merits the closest of scrutiny.

Leading fancies at Cheltenham 2022:

Tuesday, March 15: Sir Gerhard - Supreme (Tues Mar 15) or Ballymore (Weds Mar 16); Dysart Dynamo - Supreme; Blue Lord - Arkle; Appreciate It - Champion Hurdle; Stattler - National Hunt Challenge Cup

Wednesday, March 16: Galopin Des Champs - Brown Advisory Novices' Chase or Turners Novices' Chase (Thurs Mar 17); Energumene - Queen Mother Champion Chase; Facile Vega - Champion Bumper

Thursday, March 17: Allaho - Ryanair

Friday, March 18: Vauban - JCB Triumph Hurdle; Al Boum Photo - Gold Cup

Nicky Henderson - 70 Cheltenham winners

Henderson began training in 1978 and has now trained an incredible 70 Cheltenham Festival winners.

Of those, Long Run (2011) and Bobs Worth (2013) won the Gold Cup, while See You Then won the Champion Hurdle in 1985, '86 and '87.
There have been other brilliant performers at the Festival for him too, in the shape of dual Champion Chase winners Sprinter Sacre and another who landed the two-mile championship, Remittance Man.

Leading fancies at Cheltenham 2022:

Tuesday, March 15: Jonbon - Supreme or Ballymore (Weds Mar 16); Constitution Hill - Supreme or Ballymore (Weds Mar 16)

Wednesday, March 16: Shishkin - Queen Mother Champion Chase, Walking On Air - Ballymore

Thursday, March 17: Champ - Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle

Paul Nicholls - 46 Cheltenham winners

Along with Henderson, Nicholls has set the standard at Cheltenham and these is no doubting his status as one of the greats.

The Ditcheat maestro was responsible for two modern greats in Kauto Star, the first horse to regain the Cheltenham Gold Cup (2007, 2009) and Denman, who won the race in 2008 and was runner-up on three further occasions.
A total of 46 Festival winners have been sent out from his yard, six of them successful in the Champion Chase, including spectacular dual winner Master Minded (2008, 2009).
He also won four successive Stayers' Hurdles with Big Buck's (2009-2012) and he has a Champion Hurdle and three Ryanair Chases on his CV.

Leading fancies at Cheltenham 2022:

Tuesday, March 15: Threeunderthrufive - National Hunt Challenge Cup Amateur Jockeys' Novices' Chase

Wednesday, March 16: Bravemansgame - Brown Advisory Novices' Chase or Turners Novices' Chase (Thurs Mar 17); Stage Star - Ballymore

Thursday, March 17: Saint Calvados - Ryanair Chase

Gordon Elliott - 32 Cheltenham winners

One man who could seriously challenge Mullins and Henderson at the top of the Cheltenham tree could be Gordon Elliott. He was born in the year that Henderson took out a licence but has wasted no time in winning just about every big pot you can think of.

Already on the 32-winner mark at the Cheltenham Festival, Elliott saddled 2017 Gold Cup winner Don Cossack and also Tiger Roll, who has won four Festival races in addition to his two Grand Nationals, and looks set to return to Prestbury Park in 2022.

Leading fancies at Cheltenham 2022:

Tuesday, March 15: Pied Piper - Supreme Novices' Hurdle; Riviere D'etel - Arkle; Teahupoo - Champion Hurdle; Run Wild Fred and Fury Road - National Hunt Challenge Cup

Wednesday, March 16: Ginto - Ballymore; Tiger Roll - Cross Country Chase; American Mike - Champion Bumper

Thursday, March 17: Party Central - Mares' Novices' Hurdle

Friday, March 18: Pied Piper and Fil Dor - Triumph Hurdle; Ginto and Minella Crooner - Albert Bartlett; Galvin - Gold Cup; Mount Ida and Riviere D'etel - Mares' Chase

Henry de Bromhead - 15 Cheltenham winners

De Bromhead did not train his first Festival winner until 2010 but has now chalked up 15 of them from his base at Knockeen, County Waterford.
Three of those have come in the Queen Mother Champion Chase through Sizing Europe (2011), Special Tiara (2017) and Put The Kettle On (2021).
The 49-year-old trainer also saddled a Champion Hurdle-Gold Cup double in 2021, with Honeysuckle winning the former and Minella Indo the latter.

Leading fancies at Cheltenham 2022:

Tuesday, March 15: Honeysuckle - Champion Hurdle, Telmesomethinggirl - Close Brothers' Mares' Hurdle; Bob Olinger - Brown Advisory Novices' Chase or Turners Novices' Chase

Wednesday, March 16: Journey With Me - Ballymore or Albert Bartlett

Thursday, March 17: A Plus Tard - Ryanair Chase or Cheltenham Gold Cup

Friday, March 18: Minella Indo - Cheltenham Gold Cup

Jonjo O'Neill - 28 Cheltenham winners

One of the few trainers to have both ridden and trained the winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, O'Neill was twice champion jockey. Although he has not managed to emulate that feat as a trainer, since taking out a licence in the late 1980s, John Joseph O'Neill has saddled 28 Cheltenham Festival winners.
The first of those came in the 1991 Coral Golden Hurdle Final, when Danny Connors roared up the hill to victory in the famous green and gold hoops of J P McManus.
In total, half of O'Neill's 28 winners have carried those silks, the most notable being the Cheltenham Gold Cup win by Synchronised in 2012, under Sir Anthony McCoy.
Other major successes at the meeting have been two Ryanair Chases with Albertas Run (2010 & 2011) and two World Hurdles (now Stayers' Hurdle) with Iris's Gift (2004) and More Of That (2014).
The master of Jackdaw's Castle, which is local to Prestbury Park, endured a Cheltenham Festival drought between 2016 and 2021. That ended that when Sky Pirate won the 2021 Grand Annual under Nick Scholfield.

Nine of O'Neill's wins have come in handicaps, and his runners are always worth looking at in that sphere, while six of those 28 have been in one race, the National Hunt Challenge Cup, so it certainly pays to give close scrutiny to anything he runs in that contest.

Leading fancies at Cheltenham 2022:

Wednesday, March 16: Easysland - Cross Country Chase

Alan King - 15 Cheltenham winners

One of the best in the business as a dual purpose trainer, Alan King has trained 15 Cheltenham Festival winners and is another trainer whose runners at the event are always to be respected.
A former assistant to the legendary David Nicholson, King once occupied the Jackdaw's Castle yard that is now home to Jonjo O'Neill, before moving to his current home at Barbury Castle in June 2000.
Although King is yet to win a Gold Cup, he has won many of the other major prizes during the week. Top of that list would be Vor Por Ustedes' win in the 2007 Queen Mother Champion Chase.
King has also won a Champion Hurdle with Katchit (2008); a Stayers' Hurdle with My Way De Solzen (2006); a Ryanair Chase with Uxizandre (2015), two Arkles (Voy Por Ustedes, 2006; My Way De Solzen, 2007) and two Triumph Hurdles (Penzance, 2002; Katchit, 2007).
King has been without a Festival winner since Uxizandre in 2015, which is the longest he as gone without success since Fork Lightning produced his first win at the meeting in 2004.
That stat ties in with the Irish dominance of recent Festivals but it is also likely to mean that his next Festival success is creeping ever closer.

Leading fancies at Cheltenham 2022:

Tuesday, March 15: Edwardstone - Arkle

Friday, March 18: The Glancing Queen - Mares' Chase

Dan Skelton - Four winners

Definitely one for the future, Skelton only 'graduated' to winning Festival races as recently as 2019 and at the moment has four winners to his name.

His time will come. Note that three of his four winners were delivered in the unbelievably competitive County Handicap Hurdle.
Surely it is just a matter of time before the Alcester handler is winning championship races, and anything he saddles in Cheltenham week merits respect.

Leading fancies at Cheltenham 2022:

Tuesday, March 15: Third Time Lucki - Arkle

Wednesday, March 16: Nube Negra - Queen Mother Champion Chase

Thursday, March 17: Est Est Belle - Mares' Novices' Hurdle

Friday, March 18: Protektorat - Cheltenham Gold Cup

Read more on Planet Sport: Cheltenham Festival 2022 guide: When is it, times, big races, top horses, trainers, jockeys and more

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