Lanzarote Hurdle 2022 Runners Guide & Entries: Classy field set to line up at Kempton

There's a quality National Hunt card at Kempton Park on Saturday afternoon, and one of the feature betting heats of the day is the Lanzarote Hurdle, and we take a look at the 31-strong entry list here ahead of a race that could throw up a potential Cheltenham Festival contender...

Twice beaten by the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle favourite Blazing Khal at Cheltenham, the Paul Nicholls-trained Gelino Bello could drop back from Grade 2 company to the handicap division on Saturday, as he looks to recapture the winning thread, and the Ditcheat raider is aiming to hand his trainer his first win in the Lanzarote since 2017, when Modus was victorious.

Nicky Henderson has trained three of the last nine winners of the Lanzarote Hurdle and the legendary Seven Barrows handler is set to have a strong team heading to Kempton this weekend with Marie's Rock aiming to emulate her impressive win at the track on King George day back on Boxing Day. Other eye-catching entries for the former champion trainer include Call Me Lord, who has top class form on his CV, Burrows Edge, who finished mid-division in a Coral Cup earlier in his career, and Monte Cristo, who was pulled up at Newbury last time out.

Emmet Mullins could well send a couple of fascinating runners across from Ireland to Kempton and Winter Fog and Rightplacerightime will be worth taking a close look at in the betting, and could be key contenders in what is always a thrilling contest in January.

Some in-form horses set to take their chance include the Venetia Williams-trained Green Book, who has racked up a brace of wins at Haydock and Ludlow, and the Philip Hobbs-trained Earth Lord, who has won his last two races, with his last success coming at Ascot. Harry Fry's On My Command could be another seeking a hat-trick of wins, while the flourishing Micky Hammond-trained Foster'sisland has won his last three races, and the progressive seven-year-old will now bid for his biggest win to date.

A sparkling winner of the County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival back in 2019, Dan Skelton's Ch'tibello has been entered for this race, and if he can unearth some form then has to come under notable consideration, while Ben Pauling's Quinta Do Mar failed to bag a third win on the spin last time out, but is still one to mention.

Fourth in the Grade 2 Relkeel Hurdle at Cheltenham on New Year's Day, Evan Williams could send Dans Le Vant back into handicap company this weekend, while the hugely consistent Brief Times could add more firepower to the aforementioned Mulholland's team, who are bidding for victory in this race for the first time.

William Henry won the 2019 Coral Cup, while under the stewardship of the abovementioned Henderson, and now in the hands of Sam Thomas the 12-year-old has been entered for the race, with the likes of Gary Moore's Hudson De Grugy, Fergal O'Brien's Dandy Mag and Jamie Snowden' Up For Parol just another classy triumvirate entered for what should be a devilishly difficult punting heat to work out.