Focus on the leading trainers at the Cheltenham Festival

Willie Mullins

Another six winners at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival not only made Willie Mullins the meeting’s leading trainer for the seventh time in the last nine years, and for the eighth time all told, but also enhanced his position as the most successful trainer in Festival history with a total that now stands at 78. It’s been a close-run thing in recent years, though, with Mullins relying on placed horses to clinch him the Leading Trainer Award after tying by number of winners with Nicky Henderson, Gordon Elliott and Henry de Bromhead respectively at each of the last three Festivals.

Three of the stable’s winners last year have leading chances again this time. Allaho is odds on to retain his title in the Ryanair Chase, last year’s Martin Pipe winner Galopin des Champs will be a short price for whichever of the two novice chases he contests, while Champion Bumper winner Sir Gerhard is a leading contender for either the Supreme or Ballymore. The latter pair were among their stable’s seven winners at the Dublin Racing Festival where the likes of Facile Vega, Blue Lord and Vauban strengthened their claims for the Champion Bumper, Arkle and Triumph Hurdle respectively.

Gordon Elliott

Gordon Elliott is the only trainer to have interrupted Mullins’ domination of the Festival in the last decade or so, doing so in both 2017 and 2018, and in the latter season equalling Mullins’ record of saddling eight winners at one meeting. Elliott will be keen to get his name back on the scoreboard this year after serving a suspension in 2021 when Denise Foster had temporary charge at Cullentra House, sending out three winners at Cheltenham, notably Tiger Roll, who won his third Cross Country Chase and is favourite for the race again this year in his bid for what would be a record-equalling sixth Festival victory all told.

Galvin’s win in the National Hunt Novices’ Chase last year came for Ian Ferguson, but he’s back with Elliott and holds a big chance in the Gold Cup which Elliott has already won with Don Cossack. Elliott has won the National Hunt Chase in his own right four times and has leading contender Run Wild Fred this time, while Pied Piper and Fil Dor give the stable a strong hand in the Triumph Hurdle.

Henry de Bromhead

Although Henry de Bromhead lost out narrowly to Mullins on the Leading Trainer Award at last year’s Festival, in most people’s eyes he was very much the trainer of the week after becoming the first to complete the treble of the Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and Cheltenham Gold Cup in the same year. De Bromhead was 40/1 to be top trainer last year, but with all three of his championship race winners among his team again, he’s at much shorter odds this time.

Honeysuckle will be very hard to beat again in the Champion Hurdle while last year’s Gold Cup one-two Minella Indo and A Plus Tard seem sure to go well again, with the latter favourite this time to turn the tables on his stablemate. Bob Olinger will be fancied my many to add the Turners Novices’ Chase to the Ballymore that he won 12 months ago – unbeaten Journey With Me is an interesting runner in this year’s Ballymore for the same connections - while Mares’ Hurdle favourite Telmesomethinggirl is another of the stable’s 2021 Festival winners well placed for another success.

Nicky Henderson

Until Willie Mullins overtook him, Nicky Henderson was previously the Festival’s all-time leading trainer and two more wins in 2021 took his career total to 70. While Henderson was leading trainer at the Festival most recently in 2012 (for the ninth time, either outright or jointly) when sending out seven winners, he went close again in 2019 when four was enough to match Mullins’ total that year. Shishkin carries the main hopes of Seven Barrows again this year as he bids to add the Queen Mother Champion Chase to his past Festival successes in the Supreme and Arkle, a treble already completed by retired stablemate Altior.

Shishkin's chances of doing so received a boost when he beat chief rival Energumene in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot earlier in the year. Henderson has the record for the most number of Champion Hurdle wins with eight, and while his most recent winner Epatante will do well to wrest back the crown she lost to Honeysuckle in 2021, Henderson will be hopeful of getting his Festival off to the best possible start with unbeaten stablemates Constitution Hill and Jonbon locking horns in the Supreme.

Paul Nicholls

It’s fair to say that the Festival doesn’t hold quite the same place in Paul Nicholls’ priorities as it does for his main rival in Britain, but that hasn’t stopped him being leading trainer at Cheltenham six times and his total of 46 winners at the Festival over the years has been bettered only by Mullins and Henderson. Politologue was Nicholls’ sixth winner of the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2020 and the stable’s most recent Festival winner could be in the line-up again, along with Greaneteen and Hitman who finished one-two in the latest Tingle Creek Chase.

Next Destination fared best among Nicholls’ Festival team last year, finishing runner-up in the National Hunt Novices’ Chase, but the main hope was Bravemansgame who was third in the Ballymore. Unbeaten in four starts since his attention was switched to fences, Bravemansgame again looks his trainer’s best chance of a winner this year, in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase, but Stage Star takes a similar record into the Ballymore as Bravemansgame did last year. Threeunderthrufive is the yard’s latest National Hunt Chase contender, he too with a winning sequence behind him.

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