2022 Arkle Novices’ Chase Ante-Post Preview – 50/1 Boot Can Scoot up the Hill
Harry Fry’s Boothill is a lively outsider in a wide-open Arkle.
2022 Arkle Novices’ Chase Ante-Post Preview
Our expert has delved through the current state of play in the Arkle Novices’ Chase betting market, identifying a selection available at odds of 50/1! Check out their thoughts below, and why not also check out our Cross Country Chase ante-post article.
Arkle Novices’ Chase (Tuesday 15th March 2022)
As with most cases, the previous year’s Supreme winner – in this case Appreciate It – heads the market for the Arkle Novices’ Chase.
In recent years, the likes of Douvan, Altior and Shishkin have all completed the Supreme-Arkle double and given last year’s Supreme winner Appreciate It scored by a 24l margin, it is no shock to see him as short as 5/2 for the Festival’s premier 2m novice chase.
Stablemate Ferny Hollow is next up in the market, and the 2020 Champion Bumper winner claimed the scalp of Bob Olinger when last seen.
Having beaten Appreciate It in that Champion Bumper, it could be argued that Ferny Hollow is a good play against the favourite at his current odds of 9/1, but for a horse with his clear ability he has obviously had his issues and therefore represents a risky ante-post proposition.
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Dan Skelton’s Third Time Lucki appears to lead the British challengers at this stage, having won both chase starts to date, but those victories came in field sizes of just 5 and 4 and up to now his best form has tended to come in the early part of the season.
No 5yo has won the Arkle since Voy Por Ustedes (2006), but Paul Nicholls’ Monmiral would look interesting if taking up this assignment.
He looked the best of the British juvenile hurdlers last season and that form has up to now worked out well. He reappears in Saturday’s Fighting Ffith Hurdle at Newcastle, however, and if he were to run a big race in that connections could be tempted to persevere with him over the smaller obstacles this season, something that should concern potential backers.
Whilst he hasn’t quite reached the level of those listed above him, BOOTHILL looks a live outsider for this year’s Arkle and the 50/1 available looks a little too big to ignore.
Harry Fry thinks the world of this 6yo, who has been limited to just the three starts under rules, winning two of those.
He clocked excellent time figures for each of those successes, and there was little wrong with his reappearance third at Ascot, which came behind the potentially smart Soaring Glory.
Whilst that Ascot run suggested Boothill would have more to offer over hurdles, connections are still intent on sending him chasing – with Boothill’s debut in this sphere set to come at Newbury on Friday.
Whilst with a mark of just 135 he clearly needs improvement to be troubling the best novice chasers, there’s a notable lack of strength in depth in this sphere, particularly amongst the British-trained horses, and that leaves the market crying out for an unexposed horse to grab the bull by the horns and develop into a potential Graded performer – at odds of 50/1, Boothill looks worth chancing to achieve exactly that.