Cheltenham Festival 2023: Champions Chase headlines day two – live updates | Cheltenham Festival 2023

Champion Chase (3.30pm) preview

Greg Wood

With all due respect to the outsiders of the seven-strong area, it appears very very similar to a three-horse race for the two-mile chasers’ championship occasion, and thus a repeat of the Clarence House Chase in January, which switched to Cheltenham after being frozen off at its conventional house at Ascot. On the face of it, the shape there makes a nonsense of right now’s betting, as Editeur Du Gite, the slender winner from Edwardstone there, is the outsider of the three principals, whereas Energumene, who was six-and-a-half lengths away in third, is difficult Edwardstone for favouritism.

The sturdy post-race feeling, although, was that Editeur Du Gite had been given the proper front-running journey by Jamie Moore, whereas the riders aboard Edwardstone and Energumene had been maintaining tabs on one another and Edwardstone simply did not reel within the chief as soon as their non-public battle was full. Energumene was additionally ridden with a great deal extra restraint than has been the case previously, and made a few uncharacteristic errors on the way in which spherical, maybe in consequence. A return to a bit of extra positivity appears probably right now and that might properly make all of the distinction.

SELECTION: Energumene

1 Langer Dan 9/1
2 An Epic Song 16/1
3 Camprond 20/1
4 Scaramanga 50/1

A false begin … attempting to get all of them in a line ain’t straightforward … they usually’re off … Red Risk leads and Elvis Mail unseats his rider on the first … Watch House Cross pulls himself into the lead … Run For Oscar is on the again … Riaan and Camprond are outstanding with a circuit to go … Beacon Edge is in midfield with Langer Dan … Scaramanga makes good progress in direction of the leaders … Benson attempting to make floor … Sporting John is struggling …Camprond takes the lead with Scaramanga shut up … Captain Conby is difficult however Camprond kicks for house … Langer Dan fights again with An Epic Song and holds on to win!

Coral Cup (2.50pm) preview

Greg Wood

This is among the trickiest occasions of the assembly, with only one profitable favorite within the final 19 runnings and winners at 50-1, 33-1, 29-1 and 20-1 within the final 5 years alone. There has additionally been a reasonably even break up between British- and Irish-trained winners, which makes it much more tough to slender issues down, with 5 apiece during the last 10 years, though Ireland have had 98 runners in that point in opposition to the house workforce’s 159. The Irish area many of the fancied runners right now too, together with Captain Conby, who has been backed all the way down to favorite within the present betting at 8-1, and Run For Oscar, from the super-shrewd Charles Byrnes secure, who landed the Cesarewitch at Newmarket in October and has had simply two quiet-but-promising runs since.

Michael O’Sullivan, who leads the jockeys’ standings after a double on day one, is aboard Beacon Edge for Noel Meade, whereas HMS Seahorse can be attracting help to offer Paul Nolan a fourth Festival winner. Good Risk At All, in the meantime, might be one of the best of the British-trained runners, as he makes an attempt to land a primary Festival winner as a coach for Sam Thomas, whose biggest second within the saddle got here aboard Denman within the 2008 Gold Cup. I’m going with the Irish, although, and an each-way stab at Joseph O’Brien’s San Salvador at round 16-1. If Captain Conby is something like an 8-1 shot, then San Salvador ought to be roughly the identical worth, as he beat the favorite by almost two lengths at Punchestown in December and is simply 4lb worse off right now. Both horses had been put away after that run, presumably with right now’s race in thoughts.

SELECTION: San Salvador

1 The Real Whacker 8-1
2 Gerri Colombe 5-4f
3 Bronn 50-1

And they’re off … The Real Whacker leads with Bronn shut up in second and the well-backed Gerri Colombe shut up in fourth … Sir Gerhard is out the again within the early levels … Thyme Hill is in midfield … Adamantly Chosen is in direction of the rear too … On the house flip for the primary time there’s little change within the order with nothing having made a severe mistake … Galia Des Liteaux is close to the leaders … Sir Gerhard is making good progress … and Thyme Hill is discovering his leaping coming below stress … Bronn and The Real Whacker lead into the straight … The Real Whacker leads on the run-in however Gerri Colombe is ending quick and it’s a photograph! The Real Whacker has gained, having led all the way in which!!!

Brown Advisory Novice Chase (2.10pm) preview

Greg Wood

An unbeaten favorite at odds-against might properly show irresistible for a lot of punters right here, as Gerri Colombe, who’s seven-from-seven below Rules, steps as much as the three-mile journey which his newest win within the Grade One Scilly Isles Chase suggests he’s screaming for. He is a number of kilos away from his area on rankings in any case on his kind at two-and-a-half miles, and he’ll take all of the beating at round 5-4.

The apparent hazard is Sir Gerhard, who would full the exceptional treble of touchdown a Grade One race at three completely different Festivals, and in a bumper, a hurdle and a chase, if he can overcome Gordon Elliott’s runner, together with Patrick Neville’s The Real Whacker, who landed the identical novice chase at Cheltenham’s New Year’s Day assembly that L’Homme Presse took on his technique to victory on this race final season. Neither horse’s kind has reached the extent of Gerri Colombe’s, nevertheless, and nor do they appear fairly so probably to enhance for this prolonged three-mile journey.

SELECTION: Gerri Colombe

1 Impaire Et Passe 5-2
2 Gaelic Warrior 9-2
3 Champ Kiely 13-2

And they’re off … Champ Kiely kicks clear by three or 4 lengths on the off … Hermes Allen is shut up in second as they transfer in direction of the third hurdle … Persian Time is on the again and they’re properly strung out as they go previous the stands with a circuit to go … American Mike is shut up in third with Impaire Et Passe getting nearer … Ho My Lord makes a mistake … Good Land is in midfield … on the fourth final Hermes Allen takes a slender lead … Good Land is quite a bit nearer … Champ Kiely is taken over by Impaire Et Passe who goes 4 lengths clear and strides house for a simple win for Willie Mullins and Paul Townend. In truth Mullins has the primary three house. A “greenwash” within the opener!

Ballymore Novice Hurdle (1.30pm) preview

Greg Wood

The house workforce registered two winners on Tuesday’s opening card, however that is the day when issues might get significantly ugly for British stables and if there may be to be any let-up within the tide of Irish winners, this opener most likely must go Hermes Allen’s method. The excellent news for supporters of Paul Nicholls’s runner is that he’s unbeaten, notched a really cosy Grade One win within the Challow Hurdle final day out and appeared very a lot as if he had lots extra to return. The unhealthy information is that the cash has been coming for Willie Mullins’s Impaire Et Passe all week, to such an extent that he’s now a transparent favorite, and a market transfer like that usually means just one factor.

Unlike Hermes Allen, although, he has but to win at Grade One stage, and there are a number of extra runners within the area, together with two extra Mullins-trained hopefuls in Gaelic Warrior and Champ Kiely, which have achieved simply as a lot thus far. The Irish problem has further depth within the type of Barry Connell’s Good Land, and the coach has been virtually as bullish in his bigging-up of this one as he was about Marine Nationale, who gave him a primary Festival winner as a coach in yesterday’s Supreme Novice Hurdle. I’m going to throw in my lot with Hermes Allen, who ought to arguably be favorite on his kind thus far, however one other trifecta for the Irish would additionally come as no nice shock.

SELECTION: Hermes Allen

Preamble

Greg Wood

For all their dominance on the Festival in current seasons, one achievement remains to be proving elusive for the visiting Irish stables: a “greenwash” of all seven races on a single afternoon on the assembly. But they could not have many higher probabilities than right now, when Edwardstone, the slender market chief within the Queen Mother Champion Chase, is prone to be the one British-trained favorite on the cardboard and Ireland will provide round 60% of the runners.

The function occasion, actually, is the one race on the second afternoon at Cheltenham by which British-trained runners are within the majority, with 5 out of seven. Ireland fields 16 of 26 within the Coral Cup, a dozen of 20 runners within the Grand Annual Handicap Chase and no fewer than 18 of 24 within the concluding Champion Bumper.

If Hermes Allen, the second-favourite, fails to increase his unbeaten document within the opening Ballymore Novice Hurdle, it might all come all the way down to the Champion Chase, the place Edwardstone and Gary Moore’s Editeur Du Gite are up in opposition to final 12 months’s winner, Energumene.

It guarantees to be a classic renewal of the two-mile chasing championship, with final 12 months’s Arkle Trophy winner – Edwardstone – up in opposition to the reigning champ, and Editeur Du Gite, who beat the pair of them within the Clarence House Chase final day out, additionally within the combine. There is even a bit of little bit of soccer rivalry thrown in forward of the M23 Derby on the Amex Stadium tonight, as Energumene is owned by the Brighton chairman, Tony Bloom, whereas Editeur Du Gite runs within the pink and blue colors of Steve Preston, a lifelong Crystal Palace fan.

It is difficult to see past the massive three within the function occasion, however the bookies shall be hoping for a bit of aid elsewhere on the cardboard after a great day for the punters on Tuesday, together with wins for 3 clear favourites and two joint-favourites. Jazzy Matty, within the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle, is the one winner at double-figure odds to this point, and the Coral Cup (2.50) and maybe the Grand Annual (4.50) most likely supply the layers one of the best probability for an upset right now.

The going for the second day is mushy on each the hurdle and chase programs, and mushy (good-to-soft in locations) on the cross-country monitor, which levels the Cross Country Chase at 4.10. Picks for the 5 races on ITV right now are right here, race previews shall be showing right here on the weblog all through the day at an acceptable second together with betting information, prompt reactions and all method of Festival-related nuggets. Enjoy the journey!