Cheltenham Festival News: Eldorado Allen ready to fly in Ryanair for Colin Tizzard

Team Tizzard have a bijou offering for Cheltenham 2022 with Eldorado Allen one of their leading hopes in the Ryanair Chase.

The Tizzard squad might be lacking the star quality of years gone by, but Joe Tizzard is pleased with the horses that are bound for Prestbury Park.

"We're a bit light on numbers, there's no two ways about it," he said.

"Those elite horses are hard to come by. We were lucky to have Cue Card, who kept taking us to the big days, and so did Native River.

"Hopefully we've got some youngsters who are going to progress to that stage and I think we've got some chances in the handicaps. We haven't got a standout horse, that's for certain."

Eldorado Allen has performed ably this season winning the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter and the Denman Chase at Newbury, as well as finishing second in two Grade 2 races.

There was talk of a potential Gold Cup bid for Eldorado Allen but the drop back in distance for a tilt at the Ryanair seems a more sensible propostion.

"Eldorado Allen is our highest-rated horse going into the Festival and he'd have to have a really competitive each-way chance," Tizzard added.

"We're going to run him in the Ryanair. There was talk of sticking him in the Gold Cup after he won the Denman, but it's £30,000 to supplement and I'm not sure he's an out-and-out stayer.

"We've all had a chat about it and for now I think he's a Ryanair horse. There's a big difference between three miles on good ground around Newbury and three and a quarter miles at Cheltenham in a Gold Cup. I think he'd travel in a Gold Cup, but he can have a go at that next year.

"He's always been a nice horse and I think he goes into the Ryanair with a nice chance."

READ MORE:Cheltenham Festival 2022 guide: When is it, times, big races, top horses, trainers, jockeys and more.