AS is always the case, any review of the year released at Christmas needs to take in the happenings of the previous Christmas lest they be lost in the folds of time, which can be very inconvenient.

That means I start by review of the top races of 2022 by recalling the action at Kempton on St Stephen’s Day last year. What a day that turned out to be for Danny Mullins, who flew to Kempton for two rides, and returned home having landed a 347/1 double on the card, including a famous win in the King George on 28/1 shot Tornado Flyer (Willie Mullins), who saw things out best after several of his rivals made the mistake of doing too much too soon. Tornado Flyer won’t be remembered as a great winner of the Grade 1 prize, but he certainly came in for a Grade 1 ride.

Epatante (Nicky Henderson/Nico de Boinville) took another Christmas Hurdle, although was left with little to beat, while the much-awaited clash between Bravemansgame (Paul Nicholls/Harry Cobden) and Ahoy Senor in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase was disappointingly one-sided, with Bravemansgame’s jumping much better than his chief rival’s on the day.

On day two of Kempton’s festive fixture, Shishkin (Nicky Henderson/Nico de Boinville) landed the Grade 2 Desert Orchid Chase while the novice equivalent went to Alan King’s Edwardstone (Tom Cannon), confirming the promise of his Henry VIII win and enhancing his Arkle claims.

Emotional day

The Welsh Grand National proved an emotional occasion for local boy Sam Thomas, who saddled the fragile Iwilldoit to win the marathon by a clear margin under Stan Sheppard, although the winner wasn’t seen again during the season. Chepstow’s Grade 1 Finale Juvenile Hurdle again proved a non-vintage affair, and has now lost that status, and the final Grade 1 of the year went to the Paul Nicholls-trained Stage Star, who took the Challow Hurdle, but cut little ice in the spring.

January is usually a quiet month, and was so again, but it did provide two big highlights, both emanating from the Nicky Henderson yard. Constitution Hill confirmed all the promise of his explosive hurdling debut form when cantering away with the Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle, while the clash between Shishkin and Energumene in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot for once lived up to all the hype and more, with Nico de Boinville’s mount producing a strong burst from the last fence to overhaul Energumene close home. The form looked exceptional at the time and, while Shishkin has not fired since, he was a true champion on that day.

If Edwardstone was becoming a strong home hope for the Arkle, the English found another for the Brown Advisory (think RSA) in the form of the Venetia Williams-trained L’Homme Presse, who looked smart when landing the Dipper at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day, and better still when landing the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown the following month, setting up a clash with Ahoy Senor (Lucinda Russell/Derek Fox), who got back on track when winning the Grade 2 Towton Novices’ Chase at Wetherby.

Edwardstone continued his march to Cheltenham with victory in the Kingmaker at Warwick the following week, but Newbury’s big Cheltenham trials proved inconclusive, with wins for Funambule Sivola, Eldorado Allen and Glory And Fortune doing little to shake up the ante-post markets.

For export

The Grade 1 Ascot Chase went for export, with Fakir D’Oudairies justifying favouritism for Joseph O’Brien and Mark Walsh. At Haydock, history will show that Nigel Twiston-Davies, son Sam and owners Munir & Souede scored a hugely popular double courtesy of veterans Bristol De Mai and Wholestone, but the former was only promoted to first after a long-running investigation into a failed dope test by Grand National Trial winner The Galloping Bear. Ben Clarke’s gelding was giving his trainer his biggest success, but it transpired that medication given legitimately to prevent tying-up had failed to clear his system in time.

Christian Williams enjoyed a perfect day on the final Saturday of the month when Win My Wings (Ryan Mania) landed the Eider Chase at Newcastle a matter of minutes before Cap Du Nord (Jack Tudor) took the Coral Trophy (formerly the Racing Post Chase), beating stablemate Kitty’s Light. On the same Kempton card, Pic D’Orhy (Paul Nicholls/Harry Derham) produced a fine display of jumping to land the Grade 2 Pendil Novices’ Chase, promising better to come.

Home team success

Sandown’s pre-Cheltenham Imperial Cup meeting saw the big race go to the Peter Fahey-trained Surprise Package (James Bowen) – the 20/1 shot’s easy win was hardly an encouraging augury for the home team ahead of the Festival, although the British got off to the best possible start as Constitution Hill romped away with the Supreme in a style reminiscent of the ill-fated Golden Cygnet more than four decades earlier. Alan King kept the domestic ball rolling as Edwardstone continued his great run of success in the Arkle, and Corach Rambler (Lucinda Russell/Derek Fox) made it 3-0 to the home team (Scotland’s in England, isn’t it?) before the inevitable Irish comeback.

Honeysuckle (Henry de Bromhead/Rachael Blackmore) didn’t need to be at her best to post a comfortable win in the Champion Hurdle, and day one finished on a talking point, with the National Hunt Chase providing what was believed to be the first race in Festival history in which no English-trained horse was declared, although Rebecca Curtis fielded a couple of runners from her base in West Wales.

Day two saw a spate of withdrawals after rain on ground which was watered on Tuesday after racing, with Paul Nicholls, in particular, scathing in his criticism of that decision.

The day belonged to Willie Mullins, with Sir Gerhard’s win in the Ballymore preceding an impressive win in the Champion Chase from Energumene. Paul Townend rode both and the Closutton team added the Champion Bumper as Patrick Mullins steered the exciting five-year-old Facile Vega to victory over market rival American Mike.

The Brown Advisory saw L’Homme Presse triumph for Venetia Williams and Charlie Deutsch after winning a head-to-head battle with Ahoy Senor, who failed to cope well with the ditches, but rallied gamely for second.

Gordon Elliott suffered plenty of disappointment at the meeting but provided a 50/1 winner in the Pertemps Final and saddled the first and second in the Cross Country Chase, with the win of Delta Work (Jack Kennedy) over Tiger Roll eliciting both cheers and pantomime boos from a huge and unusually vocal crowd.

Allaho rout

Thursday saw an all-Irish affair in the Turners Novices’ Chase, but only four ran, and Bob Olinger (Henry de Bromhead/Rachael Blackmore) was presented with victory when Galopin Des Champs stumbled and fell at the last when well clear. Willie Mullins and Paul Townend were soon smiling again, however, when Allaho routed his rivals in the Ryanair, and the other Grade 1 on the card saw Gavin Cromwell’s Flooring Porter defend his Stayers’ Hurdle crown under a sublime front-running ride from Danny Mullins.

The handicaps at the meeting enabled British stables to go into day four just one winner behind the Irish, but Gold Cup day was a bloodbath, with all seven winners, and most of the placed horses, coming from Irish stables. Five of those winners, including Triumph hero Vauban (Paul Townend) were trained by Willie Mullins, but the Gold Cup itself was won by Henry de Bromhead, as A Plus Tard and Rachael Blackmore gained revenge on stablemate Minella Indo after finishing second to that rival 12 months earlier. That was a moment of redemption for Blackmore, whose regret at missing out on Gold Cup glory in 2021 was palpable, and barely compensated by her award for leading rider at the meeting.

On to Aintree in April, or rather Ayr, as the Scottish National preceded the Aintree version for the first time in living memory. Christian Williams again saddled the one-two, with Win My Wings (Rob James) beating Kitty’s Light in a canter. An injury incurred in the autumn saw Sue Howell’s mare retired to stud prematurely, but her performance on the day will be long remembered.

There was controversy on the opening day of the meeting when Knight Salute (Milton Harris/Paddy Brennan) and Pied Piper dead-heated for the Anniversary 4YO Hurdle, only for the stewards to demote Gordon Elliott’s charge for minor interference at the last hurdle.

Clan Des Obeaux (Paul Nicholls/Harry Cobden) bounced back to form to beat Conflated in the Betway Bowl, although stablemate Pic D’Orhy flopped in the Manifesto Novices’ Chase, allowing Alex Hales to register a Grade 1 win with the talented Millers Bank (Kielan Woods).

Epatante (Nicky Henderson/Aidan Coleman) had no Honeysuckle to worry about and won the Aintree Hurdle by a wide margin after Zanahiyr’s last-flight fall left her clear, and it was a similar story for the same connections’ Jonbon who gained a hard-fought Grade 1 win in the Top Novices’ Hurdle in the absence of his Cheltenham conqueror Constitution Hill.

Ahoy Senor (Lucinda Russell/Derek Fox) really got his act together in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase, turning earlier form around with both Bravemansgame and L’Homme Presse with a much-improved display of jumping, and looking the superstar he promised to be before fluffing his lines at Kempton and Cheltenham.

Fakir D’Oudairies followed up his Ascot Chase win with a second victory in the Melling Chase, adding to an excellent meeting for owner J.P. McManus, and that theme continued on Saturday, as Mark Walsh produced the goods on Gentleman De Mee (Willie Mullins) and Sire Du Berlais (Gordon Elliott) in the Maghull Novices’ Chase and the Liverpool Hurdle, both flooring Cheltenham heroes in Edwardstone and Flooring Porter, respectively.

Perfect storyline

That set the scene perfectly for the Grand National itself, with Walsh looking for a remarkable treble on Ted Walsh’s heavily-backed Any Second Now. The pair performed with great credit to finish second, but as always, the great race delivered the perfect story, with Sam Waley-Cohen riding recent purchase Noble Yeats (Emmet Mullins) to victory at 50/1, having revealed earlier in the week that he would retire after the race.

The Corinthian rider had built up a remarkable record over Aintree’s spruce, but to end his career with such a victory was the stuff of fairytales, and a dream come true for the assembled gentlemen of the press.

The curtain came down on the season at Sandown, and it was to a large extent a Paul Nicholls joint, with Greaneteen, Saint Calvados and McFabulous producing a treble in the three big conditions events of the day. Despite such dominance, Nicholls had his thunder well and truly stolen when the €800 purchase Hewick produced the story of the day by winning the Bet365 Gold Cup for Shark Halon and Jordan Gainford.

The bargain-buy gelding had looked very unlucky when taken out by a loose horse in the Midlands National the previous month, but Hanlon refused to allow his young jockey to take the blame, and the pair produced one of the most heart-warming stories of the entire year with a win which looked remarkably easy given the traditional strength of the race.

IT feels like the 2022/’23 season has failed to launch, particularly with the abandonment of a host of pre-Christmas fixtures, and the farce that was Ascot’s big November meeting, but there have been some markers laid down and some disappointments to account for down the line, with the most notable in the latter category being A Plus Tard’s lifeless effort when a hot favourite for the Betfair Chase.

That race went to Protektorat for Dan and Harry Skelton, who seemed to pop up in the winner’s enclosure after a big chase every Saturday.

Shishkin was another big star who has left questions to answer, reappearing in the Tingle Creek Chase on the back of positive vibes, but labouring home behind Edwardstone (Alan King/Tom Cannon), who failed to get the love he deserved for his novice exploits, but shut a few noisome traps when winning impressively at Sandown. The horse he beat at Sandown - Greaneteen (Paul Nicholls/Harry Cobden) - had produced a sparkling return to win the Haldon Gold Cup under a big weight, so the form cannot be questioned despite the favourite’s demise.

Frodon was another Nicholls star to win a feature handicap chase under a big impost, gaining a popular and emotional win under Bryony Frost in the Badger Ales at Wincanton, while Bravemansgame typically jumped impeccably (unlike old rival Ahoy Senor) to take the Charlie Hall at Wetherby.

Ahoy Senor again found his jumping criticised despite running a much better race in the Many Clouds Chase at Aintree, but it was Noble Yeats who was making headlines as a possible Gold Cup horse after his rocket-powered finish to land that prize for Emmet Mullins and Brian Hughes. Another to add to that mix is L’Homme Presse (Venetia Williams/Charlie Deutsch), who defied top-weight in the Rehearsal Chase to catapult himself to favouritism for the King George at Kempton.

Also booking Cheltenham places, and almost crowned already in some quarters, were Nicky Henderson’s exciting pair Jonbon and Constitution Hill.

The latter looks as exciting a prospect as we’ve ever seen for the Champion Hurdle, winning the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle with stunning ease, while Jonbon – full-brother to Douvan as if that needed mentioning – has made a seamless transition to fences, and pretty much matched Edwardstone’s win on the same card when routing his rivals in the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase at Sandown.