There’s little doubt that the Champion Hurdle is the biggest race of the 2022 Cheltenham Festival Day One, with some of the leading hurdlers competing over two miles for the honour of being crowned champion hurdler and it’s always an epic tussle.
It was Epatante who triumphed in the 2020 Champion Hurdle when receiving a mares allowance and it appears likely that she’ll take her place in this race in a bid to land back-to-back triumphs for an encounter that always takes plenty of winning.
The Nicky Henderson charge did show some chinks in the armour recently when having her colours lowered by Silver Streak in the Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle and that defeat has seen Epatante’s betting odds drift when it comes to winning the 2022 Champion Hurdle although she’s still clear favourite.
Epatante was sent off as 1/5 favourite for that Kempton encounter and had previously looked fairly comfortable when winning the Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle at 8/11, although there is always danger lurking when it comes to the Champion Hurdle and there has been money coming for some of the other pretenders to the crown.
Silver Streak must be given some strong consideration after that victory at Kempton, with trainer Evan Williams previously seeing his horse perform admirably when finishing second to Song For Someone at Cheltenham on 12 December.
The horse has twelve lengths to find on Epatante after finishing sixth in last season’s Champion Hurdle and it will be interesting to see whether the money comes for this runner on the day.
Sharjah is also a leading 2022 Champion Hurdle contender and the Willie Mullins hope finished an admirable second behind Epatante in last year’s Cheltenham Festival renewal, with jockey Patrick Mullins obliging on this horse in the Matheson Hurdle when being sent off at odds of 11/2.