Grade One Champion Novice Chase Guide 2022

A talented novice hurdler for Gordon Elliott, Fury Road spent a season in open company over hurdles but his form took a sharp downturn.

A switch to fences didn’t bring about an immediate change in form either. Beaten on his first two attempts over the bigger obstacles by smart rivals, he then showed his class when stepping up to 3 miles and winning a grade 1 handily. Beating Run Wild Fred in the process.

Last seen running a valiant 2nd behind Ahoy Senor at Aintree, he’s a strong staying chaser and could just be the biggest threat to Bob Olinger.

A couple of seasons over hurdles for Beacon Edge saw him win a couple of graded events and he rounded out last season with a decent 4th in the stayers hurdle.

Taken to fences by Noel Meade for this season, he failed to justify favouritism on her first outing but bounced straight back to win a grade 1 over 2.5 miles back in November.

He’s failed to win since over fences however. Falling in the Dublin Racing Festival, he was then just unable to give away 7lbs to Farouk D’alene. He put in a poor showing at Cheltenham however.

Finishing a poor 7th of 9 in the Brown Advisory Chase. He needs to bounce back from that effort.

A decent enough hurdler, Ballyshannon Rose managed to win a handful of times over timber in her two seasons over the smaller obstacles.

Taken chasing for this season she got off the mark at the first time of asking when winning a mares’ event. She managed to win a mares grade 2 back in January. She’s been pitched into handicaps since and has found herself beaten.

A bad mistake saw her unseat last time out when tackling 3 miles for the first time over fences and she looks well out of her depth here.

After looking relatively average over hurdles, Millers Bank won a low level handicap before running a stormer to be 3rd in last season’s Aintree hurdle.

Taken chasing off the back of that has yielded mixed results. Winning handily on debut, he then unseated twice when moving up to grade 2 company. Just unable to reel in Pic D’Orhy over 2.5 miles, Millers Bank showed his quality when winning a grade 1 at Aintree last time out.
Powering clear late on, he shaped like he’d stay 3 miles and might just relish this trip to garner another graded success.

After managing to get the better of Beacon Edge in their debut over fences. It took the Harrington representative 7 attempts to break his maiden over hurdles but he fared much better when switching to fences.

However he found the form with Beacon Edge immediately reversed when finishing 4th behind that rival in a grade 1.

Dropping in trip didn’t help either and he then found himself beaten out of sight by Bob Olinger here at Punchestown in January.

Last seen stepping up to 3 miles he managed to win a grade 3 event. Going further seemed to really suit but he’ll have to improve to match the market principles.

A 6 year old for Willie Mullins who’s only managed to win once over fences so far in his career. Despite winning twice over hurdles at 2 miles and 3 miles, he got off the mark over fences over 2 miles and 3 furlongs.

Put in his place by Bob Olinger in a grade 3 event, he then failed to finish at Leopardstown when unseating.

Last seen finishing a well beaten 4th in the Brown Advisory Chase at Cheltenham, 3 miles does look about right for him but he’s going to have to have improved to reverse the form with Bob Olinger.

Henry De Bromhead’s 7 year old has only tasted defeat once under rules and just held onto his unbeaten record as a chaser when Galopin Des Champs came to grief at the last fence in the Marsh chase.

He’s done all of his winning over obstacles at 2.5 miles and finds himself stepping up in trip for the first time. He’s won powerfully over 2.5 miles but did look tired finishing in the Marsh. Trying to keep tabs on Galopin Des Champs may have emptied his stamina.

He has the best form in the field but has to prove he stays this trip at grade 1 level.