The second day of the Cheltenham Festival is upon us and Wednesday’s action is headlined by the Champion Chase. The helter-skelter Grade 1 is always a sight to behold with top-class two-milers jumping at a ferocious pace at the greatest course in racing.
The Champion Chase has been won by many of the sport’s greats and carries a purse that totals just shy of £400,000, as the field of eight go in search of big-race glory at Prestbury Park.
Clive Gildon provides his analysis on the feature as well as some other selections on day two at Cheltenham’s flagship meeting, where they race from 1.30pm-5.30pm, with the Champion Chase itself due off at 3.30pm.
3.30 – Queen Mother Champion Chase (Grade 1, 2m)
Willie Mullins has assembled a monster team for this season’s festival and Champion Chase market leader El Fabiolo is one of the shortest-priced favourites of the week. It is easy to see why.
He has barely come off the bridle in an unbeaten chase career that has involved a stack of top-level successes. For many pundits he is considered the most talented chaser in training right now.
However, there are some doubts regarding his fluency over fences. He has a tendency to meet one or two awkwardly and in Champion Chases there is little margin for error given the gallop they tend to go at.
He should be up to whatever any of his rivals throw at him, but expect Edwardstone to make him work for it somewhat. This ten-year-old appeared to be loving a change of tactics when sauntering home from the front in a superb 40-length strike in the Game Spirit. It was a surprise Alan King left it so long to change tack.
A bold jumper, Edwardstone should be bang there in the ‘without the favourite’ market if he can reproduce a performance like that.
2.10 - Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase (Grade 1, 3m½f)
The narrative surrounding the Brown Advisory is all about whether Fact To File will stay this new distance, and I would be doubtful. He is a speedy sort with top-notch form over shorter distances who is yet to be tested over three miles and, on soft ground, his rivals will ensure there is no hiding place.
I suspect Thursday’s Turners would have suited him better and, if the trip proves beyond him, a slogger like Stay Away Fay will be superbly positioned to capitalise. He enhanced his profile by splitting good, established chasers The Real Whacker and Ahoy Senor off similar terms to prepare for this and has a commendable attitude.
While he is feared, a chance is taken on the less-exposed novice Monty’s Star instead. Monty’s Star is a half-brother to Albert Bartlett runner-up Monalee, who ran with distinction for this team, and arrives here much fresher than when he flopped here last term.
That has been a deliberate ploy and the encouraging start he has made to chasing (impressive winner at Punchestown on New Year’s Day) can be built on here.
2.50 - Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle (2m5f)
The Coral Cup is a fiendishly tricky puzzle to solve, but someone has to win it and I’m drawn to Guard Your Dreams. The impression is Nigel Twiston-Davies has geared his eight-year-old’s campaign around a tilt at this prize.
He returned from a mammoth absence with a last-of-five effort in the International Hurdle here in January over a two-mile trip that was clearly too sharp. The fact he was a held-up last in a slowly run race and not beaten far by the second suggests it is a performance to mark up.
Wincanton isn’t his track, so you can put a line through his lesser effort in the Elite last time, and it is clear the handicapper has given this Grade 2 winner a chance off a mark of 137.
The form of the Nicky Henderson stable is a negative regarding Doddiethegreat’s chance, yet he is still afforded huge respect. He shaped as if wanting a much longer trip when fourth in the Betfair Hurdle last time and that form is already working out excellently with the third and fifth fighting out the finish in the Imperial Cup last weekend.
4.10 - Glenfarclas Chase (3m5f)
The Glenfarclas Chase has changed complexion since it lost its handicap status, and a classier calibre of horse tends to show up now. Few are classier than Minella Indo and he gets the vote.
Minella Indo has won a Gold Cup, finished second in another, filled the runner-up position in a Brown Advisory and landed an Albert Bartlett. He simply comes alive at this meeting and produced a top-notch trial for this when finishing fourth off a big weight in a handicap when last seen, taking nicely to the cross-country course. A replication of that effort could make him tough to beat.
Galvin, who he holds on that form, might even be his biggest threat, for all he is 3lb worse off. He appears to be coming nicely to the boil after a solid warm up over hurdles at Navan.
4.50 - Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Challenge Cup Handicap Chase (2m)
Libberty Hunter has loads in his favour in a weaker Grand Annual than is usually the case. The horse he brushed aside last time, Matata, ran in the Arkle on Tuesday and a 7lb rise could easily underestimate him in light of his room for improvement after just three starts over fences.
The heavens have opened in the lead up to the Festival this season and Libberty Hunter will have no worries on the soft ground. With champion jockey elect Harry Cobden taking the mount, it would be a big surprise if punters did not at least get the place return on their each-way investment.
Don’t be shocked if Solness outruns his odds for Joseph O’Brien. The top trainer’s runners here are always respected and he shaped quite well at the Dublin Racing Festival last time, suggesting his run there was to tee him up for this.
