The Arkle Trophy, on day one of the Cheltenham Festival, is always an event race fans look forward to each year as the leading novice chasers from the UK and Ireland face off over fences in ferocious two-mile contest. The Arkle Trophy is an exciting event and the William Hill Cheltenham offer makes it even better with up to the minute odds on all the horses.
In the early stages of the 2018/19 campaign, three novice chasers have already stood out to have a fantastic chance of success in March. Here is a look at those horses in a little more details.
Kalashnikov Aiming To Go One Betting Than Supreme
Amy Racing via Twitter
Kalashnikov went into the 2018 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle as one of the leading novice hurdlers in his division, and the same can be said this season over fences. Amy Murphy’s runner has won both of his races in the campaign with victories coming at Warwick and Plumpton. On his opening start over fences, he made a number of small errors. However, he seems to have learnt from those mistakes as his jumping was much better at Plumpton last month where he made all to prevail by 18 lengths. Kalashnikov is the 7/2 favourite in the racing odds at William Hill for the Arkle and if he keeps his 100% record going into the Festival, he is sure to be the heavy favourite on the day of the race.
Mengli Khan Could Prove Big Threat From Ireland
Irish trainer Gordon Elliott always has a number of leading fancies in the big races at Cheltenham and his leading hope in the Arkle this season looks to be Megli Khan. Like Kalashnikov, Mengli Khan ran a fantastic race in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle back in March where he came home third. We have only seen the Irish raider once so far over fences but he made a brilliant impression in a beginners chase at Punchestown. The five-year-old is sure to be stepped up in class as the campaign progresses, therefore his credentials are sure to be put to the test later down the line. However, his pedigree suggests he will be a successful chaser and that he could have the class to add his name to the famous list of Irish horses who have scored in the Arkle.
Dynamite Dollars Was Back With A Bang At Sandown
Jonathan Mark via Twitter
Dynamite Dollars proved he is sure to be a huge player this season when he landed the Grade One Henry VIII Novices’ Chase at Sandown, beating the odds-on favourite Lalor in that race earlier this month. That success was Dynamite Dollars’ second victory of the campaign as he also won at Market Rasen on his seasonal reappearance. Former champion trainer Paul Nicholls has won the Arkle twice in his career as Flagship Uberellas added his name to the honours board in 1999, while Azertyuiop landed the 2m race in 2003. This season is set to be Dynamite Dollars first visit to the Festival. However, he has already run at Cheltenham during the 2018/19 campaign as he finished second behind Lalor at the November meeting so he should not lack experience at the track.
With just less than three months of racing left before the Festival, there is still time for many more horses to make a strong case for being one of the favourites for the Arkle this season.
