National Hunt Chase 2022 Entries: 48 horses entered for marathon test

Forty eight horses have been entered for the National Hunt Chase, which is the final race on day one of the Cheltenham Festival on March 15. We take a look at the list of entries here...

Gordon Elliott has saddled four of the last 11 winners of the National Hunt Chase, and the Cullentra House handler will fancy landing the prize once again and he has entered the current ante-post favourite Run Wild Fred for the 2022 renewal. Runner-up in the Irish Grand National at the end of last season, Run Wild Fred showed his class over a trip when he bounded to an emphatic victory in the Troytown Handicap Chase at Navan, and he was last seen finishing second to Fury Road in the Grade 1 Neville Hotels Novice Chase at Leopardstown.

The current 4/1 market leader, Run Wild Fred could be joined by the aforementioned Fury Road, who is also entered in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase, while the pairing of Farouk D'alene and Braeside add more depth to the Elliott team entered for the event.

Willie Mullins last trained the winner of this race back in 2018 when Rathvinden bounded to glory, and the master of Closutton has a whopping eight of the 48 entries, and most of them sit prominently in the betting. The likely flagbearer for the Mullins team will be Stattler, who was a hugely impressive six length winner of a beginners chase on his chasing debut. Fourth in the Albert Bartlett last season, the seven-year-old shaped like he could improve considerably for the switch to fences, and he's challenging Run Wild Fred for favouritism, and is a best-priced 5/1.

Capodanno chased home Bob Olinger at the weekend, so it would be no shock to see him try to avoid that star in the Turners Novices' Chase, and he's an 8/1 shout for this contest from the Mullins yard, while En Beton (10/1) and Ontheropes (25/1) are another brace of eye-catching Mullins entries.

Gavin Cromwell's Vanillier was a fine winner of the Albert Bartlett at last year's Cheltenham Festival, but he's been a little stop-start over fences, having only won one of his three chase starts, and he's currently a 12/1 chance. A real dour stayer, he's one that will relish the test of stamina this 3m 6f contest has to offer, but whether he has the class to sparkle over fences against some of his rivals is up for questioning.

Another relentless galloper is the Paul Nicholls-trained Threeunderthrufive, who produced a fine staying display to win the Hampton Novices' Chase at Warwick last weekend, and while he's also entered in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase, this could be a potentially easier task for him, and at 12/1 he could be one of the leading British-trained runners.

Others among the 48 entries that are worth keeping an eye on, Jonjo O'Neill's Papa Tango Charly has impressed with his two chase wins at Carlisle, and while he will need to step up again at this level, he's a classy staying chaser in the making and is of interest at 20/1, while Pats Fancy, Jungle Boogie and The Bosses Oscar all add depth to a fascinating contest.