2022 Cheltenham Festival Tips - Three returning winners rolled into 40/1 treble

Punters have already started piling into the ante-post markets for the Grade One races at this season's meeting. Here are three horses we think you should back to win at the 2022 Cheltenham Festival right now, before their prices get any shorter.

Appreciate It swept every rival aside he faced during his novice campaign over hurdles. Willie Mullins' star capped an unbeaten season by romping to a 24-length victory in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, avenging his narrow defeat in the previous year's Champion Bumper.

Mullins' star will start out over fences when the ground begins to soften. Considering the cruising speed he displayed during his time over hurdles, it would be a surprise to see Appreciate It stepped up beyond the minimum distance.

Ferny Hollow, who beat Appreciate It in the Champion Bumper, could be his main opposition when/if they both make it back to Cheltenham. Barring his stablemate, I can't see anyone currently sitting behind Appreciate It in the Arkle betting that Mullins and the team will be worried about. 11/4 looks too good to turn down.

Henry De Bromhead's star mare remains unbeaten, having won all 12 of her starts under rules. Honeysuckle proved in the spring that she was, by far, the best hurdler in the sport, winning the Irish Champion Hurdle, the Champion Hurdle and the Punchestown Champion Hurdle.

No disrespect intended to the Honeysuckle, beat it's safe to say she's currently dominating one of the least competitive two-mile hurdle divisions we've ever seen in National Hunt racing. Sharjah is the only credible challenger we have at the moment to Honeysuckle, and he's never really come close to beating De Bromhead's mare on the four occasions they have met.

Honeysuckle is the highest-rated hurdler in the sport, and gets a seven-pound weight allowance whenever she runs in Grade One company. If she isn't the odds-on favourite when she returns to defend her Champion Hurdle crown in March, something will have gone very, very wrong.

A stone-bruise robbed us of the chance to see Bob Olinger jump fences for the first time at Punchestown this weekend. That is, however, only a very minor injury, and I doubt we will have to wait much longer to see one of the most exciting horses in the sport make his belated reappearance.

The way Bob Olinger swung into the home-straight in the Ballymore last season, kicking clear of two very good horses in Gaillard Du Mesnil and Bravemansgame to win his second Grade One by seven lengths, was nothing short of phenomenal. So see a horse with his size and scope jump hurdles so fluently was really a testament to this horse's, and his trainer's ability.

I can't see any reason why Bob Olinger won't be as dominant over fences as he was over hurdles. While he does have several credible rivals sitting behind him in the Marsh Novices' Chase betting, most notably My Drogo, Ferny Hollow and Bravemansgame, I'd be shocked if Henry De Bromhead's star was beaten at any stage this season. Just like in the case of Appreciate It, 11/4 should be snapped up while it lasts.