The Arkle Challenge Trophy is one of the popular features from the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival. It’s a big Grade One race for promising novices who could kick-start their chasing career by landing this big feature race.
On this page, our betting experts will be taking a look through some of the history of the race, as well as taking a look at the latest Arkle racing odds for 2022’s renewal.
The Arkle is usually seen as a big feature with a nod towards future Champion Chase contenders.
Who will step it up and claim the top honours at this year’s edition? Closer to the start of this year’s Cheltenham Festival, look out for our top Arkle racing tips.
Arkle Challenge Trophy Race Details
Date: 15th March, 2022
Time: 2:10 pm
Grade: Grade 1
Distance: 2m
Age: 5 year olds plus
Entries: 17
Arkle Challenge Trophy Favourites and Outsiders
The Arkle Challenge Trophy is one of the races at the Cheltenham Festival which does tend to trend towards those leading the betting market.
Just in the last ten editions of the race, there have been seven winning favourites.
That includes last year’s imperious winner SHISHKIN who is going to head back to his year’s Festival with a much bigger target in mind at the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Shishkin landed the win in last year’s Arkle as the 4/9 FAV.
But some underdogs have had their day in the Arkle of course. It happens in all horse races and in 2014 there was a massive 33/1 outsider land the Arkle. It was Western Warhorse who came from nowhere to upset the field for trainer David Pipe that year.
In 2020 Put The Kettle On came good in the Cheltenham Festival Day Grade One Arkle when she scored from 16/1 for Henry de Bromhead. In doing so, she was the first mare to win the popular fixture since 1980 when Anaglogs Daughter got her nose in front.
So while those outsider wins have been a little rarer in this fantastic 2m contest in the last decade, they happen.
With that in mind, our racing experts are not only going to size up some of the leading contenders in the Arkle betting market but will also be going a little deeper into Arkle odds 2022 by looking at some longer-priced outsiders as well.
Table of Contents
- 1 Arkle Challenge Trophy Race Details
- 2 Arkle Challenge Trophy Favourites and Outsiders
- 3 Arkle Challenge Trophy Odds Cheltenham 2022
- 4 About the Arkle Challenge Trophy
- 5 Arkle Challenge Trophy contenders – 15th March 2022
- 6 Arkle Challenge Trophy Trends Cheltenham 2022
- 7 Arkle Challenge Trophy 2021 Review
- 8 Cheltenham Festival 2022 Day 1 Race Times
- 9 Arkle Challenge Trophy Former Winners
- 10 Cheltenham Festival Betting Offers
Arkle Challenge Trophy Odds Cheltenham 2022
It is ante-post Arkle racing odds that are in the frame at the moment and once all the final declarations are in, the market will unfold a little clearer. But with some early entries, we can start to piece together the lay of the land for Arkle odds 2022.
For now, here is a list of current Arkle Challenge Trophy odds taken at the time of writing.
Edwardstone 15/8
Blue Lord 11/4
Riviere D’etel 7/2
Haut En Couleurs 7/1
Saint Sam 8/1
Third Time Lucki 10/1
Jungle Boogie 14/1
Coeur Sublime 16/1
Ciel De Neige 16/1
Brave Seasca 20/1
Magic Daze 20/1
War Lord 33/1
For Pleasure 40/1
Elixir De Nutz 50/1
El Barra 50/1
Red Rookie 50/1
Shakem Up’arry 100/1
* (odds recorded at 23:59 GMT on February 21st, 2022 at Betfred)
About the Arkle Challenge Trophy
The Arkle Challenge Trophy, commonly known as just the Arkle, is named after the famous Irish Thoroughbred who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times, along with a host of other major National Hunt titles.
The first edition of the Arkle was hosted in 1969 as it replaced the Cotswold Chase. It was traditionally run on Day 2 of the Cheltenham Festival before being switched to the opening day of action in 1980.
The Arkle is only second in 2m National Hunt status to the Queen Mother Champion Chase, so this one is seen as a natural springboard to the bigger Champion Chase action.
The likes of Put The Kettle On, Altior, Sprinter Sacre, Sizing Europe, Voy Por Ustedes and Moscow Flyer among others have claimed victories in their career in both Cheltenham Festival races.
Arkle Challenge Trophy contenders – 15th March 2022
EDWARDSTONE is expected to be one of the leading contenders in this year’s Arkle. He is the current 15/8 favourite* (odds recorded at 23:59 GMT on February 21st, 2022 at Betfred).
Edwardstone has been dominating novice chase action since November last year, winning his last four appearances in 2m novice chases.
The Alan King-trained 8 year old had an ideal warm-up with an easy score at Warwick in the Grade 2 Kingmaker. Edwardstone may take some stopping.
The Willie Mullins-trained BLUE LORD looks like being a serious challenger however in the 2022 Arkle.
He made the switch to the fences in December last year and has won all three efforts in the sphere.
Notably, the latest run that Blue Lord had was at Leopardstown in early February in the Irish Arkle Novices Chase where he had the beating of Riviere D’etel who will likely be heading to the start of the Arkle.
RIVIERE D’ETEL has the potential to get involved as well having finished as a runner-up in Grade 1 contests the last twice.
Those were both at Leopardstown in novice efforts, the latest in February saw him get picked off by Blue Lord.
HAUT EL COULEURS won a beginners’ chase to get off the mark at the first time of asking in this sphere.
He was then a faller then in the Irish Arkle Novices Chase after having made a mistake at the third.
SAINT SAM also knows most of these rivals as well after taking third in that Irish Arkle on February 5th with Rachael Blackmore in the saddle.
There wasn’t any kind of finish there from Saint Sam, but he acquitted himself well after having been pushed up to the top level.
Arkle Challenge Trophy Trends Cheltenham 2022
For the next part of this Arkle Betting Preview 2022, we are going to dive into some trends surrounding the event. To do that, we cast an eye back over the last 20 editions of this Grade 1 fixture.
Arkle Trainer Statistics
Top Cheltenham Festival trainers Willie Mullins and Nicky Henderson have stacked up four wins each in the last 20 editions of the Arkle. So they are the joint-leaders from the most recent form. There are only two other trainers in that span who have landed more than one success in the Arkle. That is Henry De Bromhead and Alan King who have both seen two winners home.
Arkle Jockey Statistics
The only active jockey that has ridden more than one Arkle winner home in the last twenty renewals has been Nico de Boinville (2). Those have both been within the last five years, with the great Altior and then Shishkin last year. It will be fascinating to see who he takes this year as usually teams up with trainer Nicky Henderson, who hasn’t had any early entries for this year’s edition.
Other Key Arkle Trends
Each of the last 20 winners of the Arkle have been beaten by no more than 4 1/2l last time out and had between 2-5 placings in the previous 180 days. All but one of the last 20 Arkle winners had previously won with their jockey on the day and had placed in at least a Grade 2 before. 19 of the last 20 winners had also made between 1-3 starts in the previous 90 days.
Arkle Challenge Trophy 2021 Review
At the 2021 Arkle, the brilliant Shiskin went as the 9/4 FAV and was expected to dominate this Grade 1 novice field. He did that with some ease. Shiskin, ridden by Nico de Boinville, eased his way into the contest before getting to the front three from home.
There was no stopping him from there as by the final jump he was already 6 lengths clear. Shiskin landed the 2021 Arkle by 12 lengths of Eldorado Allen who dug in brilliantly with a late surge to take runner up from a 33/1 SP. Captain Guinness came home third, a further length back.
Cheltenham Festival 2022 Day 1 Race Times
Day 1 Cheltenham Festival Races 2022
- 13:30 The Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle Race
- 14:10 The Sporting Life Arkle Challenge Trophy Steeple Chase
- 14:50 The Ultima Handicap Steeple Chase
- 15:30 The Unibet Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy
- 16:10 The Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle Race
- 16:50 The Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle Race
- 17:30 The National Hunt Challenge Cup Novices’ Steeple Chase
Arkle Challenge Trophy Former Winners
| Year | Winner | Odds | Jockey | Trainer |
| 2021 | Shishkin | 4/9F | Nico de Boinville | Nicky Henderson |
| 2020 | Put The Kettle On | 16/1 | Aidan Coleman | Henry de Bromhead |
| 2019 | Duc Des Genievres | 5/1 | Paul Townend | Paul Townend |
| 2018 | Footpad | 5/6 | Ruby Walsh | Ruby Walsh |
| 2017 | Atior | 1/4F | Nico de Boinville | Nico de Boinville |
| 2016 | Douvan | 1/4F | Ruby Walsh | Ruby Walsh |
| 2015 | Un De Sceaux | 4/6F | Ruby Walsh | Ruby Walsh |
| 2014 | Western Warhorse | 33/1 | Tom Scudamore | Tom Scudamore |
| 2013 | Simonsig | 8/15F | Barry Geraghty | Nicky Henderson |
| 2012 | Sprinter Sacre | 8/11F | Barry Geraghty | Nicky Henderson |
Cheltenham Festival Betting Offers
For the Cheltenham Festival 2022 Betfred have an Ante-Post Extra Places offer available for their customers.
This does NOT apply to all races but for the three selected races per day at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival, Betfred is offering an extra place of fixtures.
Betfred is also Non-Runner No Bet on all races at Cheltenham 2022.
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