Welsh Champion Hurdle Guide 2022

The oldest horse in the race but one who cannot be dismissed in this company. He put in a very solid performance last year when winning the Grade Two Scottish Champion Hurdle at Ayr beating Anna Bunina by 3 ¾ length.

Has not shown a whole lot of progression since, but he was a very unlucky faller last time out in a Grade Three contest at Haydock.

He was closing the rest of the pack two furlongs out and fell so he has to be given another chance here if he remains on his feet.

Major player.

The only mare in this race and one that looks to have it all to do here to compete with the rest of her rivals. The only bit of experience that warrants her say in this is the performance she gave last time out over 2m at Tipperary.

She was second in a race that consisted with a few above average horses, but that run did seem a bit of a one off.

Previously, she has not shown much at all and has not even raced against any opposition of note so may come up short here.

Hard to make a case for.

Jockey and trainer won this race last year with Glory and Fortune as he went on to beat the Evan Williams trained Dans Le Vent by 4 lengths.

He travelled strongly, joined the leaders before two furlongs out, jumped the last well and won going away in impressive fashion that day.

Last year’s winner has also shown decent form in his last few runs one of which included a second behind the superstar Epatante in last year’s Grade One Christmas Hurdle at Kempton.

He backed that performance up with a victory in the Grade Three Betfair Hurdle at Newbury in February, so he cleary has the best form compared to the rest of the field.

There is no reason for him not to go close once more, highly respected if he is ready to go on reappearance.

This 6 year old son of Nathaniel has only won two races in 20 career starts so far, but has come close to more on different occasions.

So far this year he has notched up a few second placed finishes just like one of his other rivals he faces here Hardy De Seuil.

It has been a couple of years since he last won a race so will be hard to fancy but may show major signs of improvement from his last run where he was second to eventual winner N’golo at Haydock.

A couple of other horses in that race have come out since and run decent races so there is a small amount of from to go off, but looks a challenging task for this individual.

The outsider of seven rivals here and one who has a tough ask considering what he has achieved compared to others.

Has only been victorious once in 20 career starts and his placed efforts have come in fairly weak looking events.

Easy to dismiss and will be a very unlikely winner if he were to be in the mix a couple furlongs or so out.

Trainer Jamie Snowden will be hoping his horse can get his head in front for the fourth time so far in his career as he has previously finished second on last three starts.The latter were both in Class 3 events, but he has shown form in higher Grade too.

He fell short when a distant second to the ever consistent Minella Drama in a Grade Two Chase at Haydock at the start of the year so will have to come on from that and show another level of consistency here.

Certainly not dismissed with jockey Gavin Sheehan arriving in good form.

Potentially an exciting horse for trainer Harry Fry and connections involved. He has only had four career starts so far, but has always finished second before notching up his first win on his penultimate start. He made the rest of the field look like amateurs that day as he hosed up by 14 lengths.

For his fourth run he travelled to Ireland to take part in a massive 25 runner handicap where he ran a respectable race finishing second once again.

If he shows the ability he has done so far there is no reason why he cannot challenge the six other rivals in this year’s renewal of the Welsh Champion Hurdle.