Day two of Cheltenham Featuring the Champion Chase

After all the excitement of Champion Hurdle day yesterday we quickly move on to the two mile chasing equivalent with the Queen Mother Champion Chase the centrepiece of today’s seven race card at Cheltenham.

The action begins with the Ballymore Novices Hurdle at 1.20pm where three big guns are set to face off. Gaillard Du Mesnil, a €250,000 purchase from France represents the Champion trainer Willie Mullins.

The five-year-old gelding has progressed from run to run in Ireland and was most impressive when coming from well off the pace to score emphatically at the Dublin Racing Festival last time. His current odds of 11/4 with bet365 look about right.

Fellow Irish raider Bob Olinger 15/8 hasn’t achieved as much so far but is also a very exciting prospect. One slight worry for him today would be that his four racecourse runs in Ireland have contained Heavy in the going description and any drying of the ground could be against him.

The chief threat to the Irish pair will come from expensive winning point-to-pointer Bravemansgame which is undefeated since having a wind operation and looks best on decent ground. Paul Nicholls is yet to train the winner of this race but has a likely candidate in Bravemansgame 5/2 and this six-year-old will ensure the Irish trained pair don’t get things all their own way.

The three miles Brown Advisory Novice Chase is the second contest on this afternoon’s card and sees one of the Irish bankers of the meeting in Monkfish. The bet365 4/9 chance was a game winner over hurdles at last year’s Festival when beating Latest Exhibition. He has recently put the same horse in his place in two Grade 1 chases in Ireland and comes here in search of his seventh win in a row.

Interestingly, all six runners in this Grade 1 Novice Chase are ex-Irish point-to-pointers. This is the first time it has occurred in a top-level contest.

The Queen Mother Champion Chase at 3.05pm sees another Mullins trained hotpot. Chacun Pour Soi was a late withdrawal from this race last year with an abscess but has had a trouble-free preparation this season with three smooth victories. He is a worthy favourite and deserves to be a shade of odds-on at 10/11 with bet365.

Those looking for an each-way alternative could do worse than Put The Kettle On at odds of 17/2. She is unbeaten in three races over the course but would ideally prefer softer ground to be seen at her absolute best.

Easysland, 4/5 with bet365, was the sole French trained winner at last year’s Cheltenham Festival and looks to have a relatively straightforward task to repeat the dose in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase. The seven-year-old is a high-class performer and is impossible to oppose on these weight terms.

Dual Grand National winner Tiger Roll chased home Easysland in this race twelve months ago but his recent outing at Navan was a poor effort and despite his fantastic record around Cheltenham, including winning this race in 2018 and 2019, it looks like he may be on the wane.

Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins have been taking it in turns to win the Champion Bumper in recent times. This year with no Elliott participation and his leading hope Sir Gerhard switching to Mullins the Champion trainer appears to hold all the aces. Kicruit, 15/8, was most impressive at Leopardstown last month and a similar performance should suffice. An outsider with an each-way squeak could be another Mullins inmate Ramillies at odds of 16/1 with bet365. The better ground is expected to suit and there wasn’t much between him and Kilcruit on homework prior to Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival.

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