Shishkin New Ryanair Chase Favourite at Cheltenham Festival

Sports Lens

19 February 2023

Shishkin New Ryanair Chase Favourite at Cheltenham Festival

Shishkin is back! The Nicky Henderson-trained 9 year-old returned to form with an easy win in Saturday’s Ascot Chase and has now been propelled into the new Ryanair Chase favourite at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival, but a Gold Cup bid is not totally ruled out either.

Ryanair Chase The Main Cheltenham Festival Target For Shishkin

Fakir D’Oudairies was well-backed into favourite to win Saturday’s Ascot Chase – a race the JP McManus horse won 12 months ago – which meant the Nicky Henderson-trained Shishkin was NOT the market leader in a horse for the first time in over three years.

However, the market got it wrong as the former Cheltenham Festival winner, Shishkin, was back to his very best and relished the step up to 2m5f for the first time to win the Ascot Chase by an impressive 16 lengths – with the Paul Nicholls-trained Pic D’Orhy taking silver.

That win made it 2-from-2 at the Berkshire track after Shishkin’s hard-fought win in the 2022 Clarence House Chase, when beating the current Champion Chase favourite Energumene. Saturday’s success was his 8th career success over fences from 10 starts.

Shishkin’s weekend victory also resulted in the Cheltenham Festival bookmakers running for cover, with the Henderson horse cut to @ Evs with BetUK to win the Ryanair Chase, which is set to be run on Thursday 16th March.

While, with an entry in the Gold Cup, his Cheltenham odds for the biggest race at the Festival were also slashed into 8/1.

Nicky Henderson told the Racing Post “The most important thing was upping the trip, I was always confident it would help him,” Henderson said. “They went too quick in the Tingle Creek and there was only one thing to do.

“I was confident that by slowing the pace he could then race on the bridle and this was always the race we were going to come to. We got it done, I can’t tell you what a relief it is. You’re very lucky to get good horses and it’s very sad if they fall off the table. When you do get them back it’s extra special. It’s certainly a comeback – we all knew today was everything.”

Ryanair Chase Latest Betting with BetUK

Shishkin is the new Ryanair Chase betting favourite, with Blue Lord and Fury Road next best.

Shishkin @ Evs
Blue Lord @ 4/1
Conflated @ 5/1
Fury Road @ 5/1
Janidil @ 7/1
Envoi Allen @ 8/1
Fakir D’oudairies @ 10/1

DID YOU KNOW? Shishkin is named after Ivanovick Shishkin – a Russian landscape painter

Shishkin Still Holds Cheltenham Gold Cup Entry

With the step up in trip clearly what Shishkin needs these days – could the former Arkle Chase winner bypass the Ryanair Chase and go up in trip again and tackle the Gold Cup?

The 9 year-old still has an entry in the Friday feature too and has come into 8/1 in the betting, with the Willie Mullins-trained Galopin Des Champs still the clear Cheltenham Gold Cup favourite @ 6/4 with BetUK.

Having won the Ascot Chase over 2m5f, if Shishkin was to tackle the Gold Cup, he’d be going up another 5 1/2 furlongs and over a trip of 3m2 1/2f, which the Gold Cup is run over.

Henderson told the Racing Post – “I know it’s not going to be the Champion Chase and it’s probably odds-on the Ryanair, it’s the sensible choice. I would have thought the Gold Cup would be pretty stupid but I’ve done some stupid things in my time before.”

Even though, the Ryanair Chase looks the most-likely Cheltenham Festival option, connections will have around 3 weeks to ponder Shishkin’s target, but for all horse racing fans it was great to see the Donnelly-owned star chaser back in the big time – roll on Cheltenham!