Grand Annual Chase 2022 Tips: Ante-Post Preview

Grand Annual Chase 2022 Tips: Ante-Post Preview 

The Grand Annual Handicap Chase, at the Cheltenham Festival, is traditionally one of the most difficult puzzles to solve but is a good race to tackle at an early stage from a betting point of view for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it can largely offer decent value for those seeking something at a bigger price before final declarations are confirmed. Secondly, this fast-and-furious affair, which is set to compete over two-miles, tends to be won by a horse with a touch of class, who practically can’t quite muster it at the highest level but is slightly better than your average handicapper. With that in mind, I think I might have found us an early each-way proposition at a double-figure price for this year’s highly-competitive two-mile handicap event. 

First and foremost, the JP McManus-owned participants are always worth a second-look in this event as the man himself has a phenomenal record in this contest, who’s owned four previous winners, with three of those coming in the last ten years alongside having four seconds and a third place. He could have two leading contenders in the shape of Gentleman De Mee and Thedevilscoachman, who have taken well to chasing and are likely to be aimed at this assignment at Cheltenham. Of the pair, I would probably want to side with Thedevilscoachman, who was smart over hurdles and wasn’t beaten far behind Ferny Hollow on chase debut, where Gentleman De Mee was back in fifth, while year’s winner Sky Pirate and the rejuvenated Editeur Du Gite would be others to consider. 

There is one horse in particular who strikes me as a bona fide project for this race, especially when taking into account the non-runner no-bet application and the horse in question is the Henry De Bromhead-trained COEUR SUBLIME (best price 20-1). The seven-year-old gelding developed into a high-class juvenile a couple of seasons ago, where he confirmed his initial promise with a career-best runner-up effort in the 2019 Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham behind Pentland Hills. He then went on to win the Grade Two WKD Hurdle by fifteen-lengths before losing nothing in defeat when third to Sharjah in the Grade One Matheson Hurdle. He was then deemed good enough to contest last year’s Champion Hurdle and, although he could only finish down the field, that was far from his true-running based on earlier exploits. 

It's fair to say he couldn’t quite scale the highest heights over hurdles, however on his day he is very good and he has shaped promisingly in two spins over fences behind Ferny Hollow, evidently looking back to something near his juvenile form. His seasonal/chase debut saw him push the former Champion Bumper winner Ferny Hollow to a four-length second and Elusive Pimpernel’s son backed up that promising display with an excellent third place finish behind that same rival in the Grade 1 Racing Post Novices Chase at Leopardstown over the Christmas period. I was visually impressed with the way he jumped and travelled through the race on each occasion, especially first-time-out, where he briefly looked like getting the better of the argument with Willie Mullins’ performer before that one wrestled back the lead and made a triumphant return to action. 

None of the others in the ante-post market for the Grand Annual with experience can boast comparable form, as this multiple Grade-1 placed hurdler would be bringing Grade One form into handicap company and that angle is always respected in this division and can often be rewarded. I’m assuming the assessor will hand him an opening mark in the mid-to-high 140’s, which would be absolutely ideal for a race of this nature on all the statistical evidence. His electric jumping and strong-travelling style is a potent weapon to have and it identifies him to be at least a top-class handicapping blot in the making going forward and his valuable experience of this venue is another feature in supporting his positive claims. 

The fact he can race powerfully suggests a stronger pace, that he is likely to get in this bigger-field scenario, would be advantageous to him. His participation would only be in doubt if the going was soft or worse, otherwise, he must have really strong claims in this ideal set-up, especially given the fact that Ferny Hollow is now a warm-favourite for the Arkle and this lad has already ran with supreme-credit behind him twice. Moreover, all of his best efforts have been on a sounder surface with his RPR’s backing up that opinion too so, with further improvement on the cards, this classy seven-year-old definitely has all the attributes to potentially provide his handler with another profitable pot at the Cheltenham Festival.