Key events
It’s the biggest reception of the week so far in the winners’ enclosure for Marine Nationale. Michael O’Sullivan’s girlfriend, Charlotte, is here to congratulate Sean Flanagan; this must be such a difficult day for her.
The trainer, Barry Connell, says this is the race he always wanted to win – even more than the Gold Cup. “Michael and myself went on a journey with this race,” Connell adds. “It’s an absolute tragedy that he’s left us, but he achieved more than many do in a much longer career. It’s been horrendous these last few weeks, but hopefully that’s a fitting end.”
Energumene was pulled up late in the race, and we also saw Quilixios and Libberty Hunter – hopefully all are OK. Here are the closing stages of Marine Nationale’s win.
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Marine Nationale earns poignant Champion Chase victory
Cheltenham 4.00
1 Marine Nationale (S W Flanagan) 5-1
2 Jonbon (N de Boinville) 5-6 Fav
3 Captain Guinness (Rachael Blackmore) 25-1
8 ran
Also: 12-1 Solness 4th
Two years ago, Michael O’Sullivan led Marine Nationale to the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Some things are just meant to be, aren’t they? “Hugely emotional for a lot of reasons, all of us jockeys have been under a cloud lately,” says Sean Flanagan. “I’m only the man who rode him round today, Michael’s the one who made him what he is. Michael, this is for you.” Sorry everyone, there’s something in my eye.
4.00 Queen Mother Champion Chase Approaching the last, it looks a two-horse race between Marine Nationale and Quilixious – but the latter falls at the final fence, and it’s going to be a poignant victory for Marine Nationale – with Jonbon recovering to finish second.
4.00 Queen Mother Champion Chase Jonbon gets it all wrong at the fifth-last, and is dropped to the back of the field! Solness is back in the lead, from Quilixios and the improving Marine Nationale, while Libberty Hunter has fallen …
4.00 Queen Mother Champion Chase Energume and Quilixios start off at a whip, but the pack are able to reel them in, and Solness joins the leading pair. Libberty Hunter and Captain Guinness the back markers.
4.00 Queen Mother Champion Chase A bit of jostling on the turn, with Nico de Boinville (on Jonbon) sending some choice words in the direction of Solness’ JJ Slevin. There’s a false start the first time, but we’re off at the second time of asking.
Two jockeys – Jack Kennedy and Sam Ewing – have been stood down for the rest of the day due to injuries. Kennedy was due to ride Galvin in the Cross-Country, but was replaced by Derek O’Connor.
Dr Jennifer Pugh said: “Both Sam Ewing and Jack Kennedy are sore having slightly aggravated previous injuries and have stood themselves down for the remainder of the day. They will be reassessed prior to racing tomorrow.”
Today’s feature race comes down to one question: can Jonbon finally deliver his best form at the Cheltenham festival? Here’s Greg Wood’s prediction …
What was already an intriguing renewal of the two-mile chasing championship is becoming more interesting by the minute today as Jonbon, a 5-6 chance overnight, has drifted to even money in the face of support for Energumene, the winner of this race in 2022 and 2023, who is 6-1 (from 7-1). It might just be punters getting cold feet after a couple of odds-on reverses on Tuesday, but Jonbon’s nasty habit of getting beaten at the festival (and, in 20 career starts, only at Cheltenham) may also be playing on some backers’ minds. He did, after all, hand a convincing defeat to Energumene at Ascot in January, and his overall form has reached a new high this term.
Jonbon, in fact, arrives off the back of five straight wins, and nine in his last 10 starts, including seven at Grade One level. He has made his own running in a majority of those races, however, and seems unlikely to be gifted a soft lead here with Solness, a front-running Grade One winner on his last two outings, also in the field, while Marine Nationale, the Supreme winner two years ago, is another interesting runner for all that he has just one win over fences to his name, in a beginners’ event in December 2023.
SELECTION: JONBON.
An update from the last race: Galvin is being treated by vets after pulling up late in the race – he walked onto the transport so hopefully it’s a precautionary measure.
Champion Chase latest odds
Odds via Oddschecker:
Jonbon 5/6
Marine Nationale 9/2
Energumene 6/1
Found A Fifty 11/1
Solness 12/1
Quilixios 33/1
Captain Guinness 33/1
Libberty Hunter 33/1
Market movers via Oddspedia:
Energumene (7/1 into 11/2)
Found A Fifty (14/1 into 11/1)
Greg Wood
Preview: 5.20 Champion Bumper National Hunt Flat Race, 2m 87yd
Given that it is the only race at the festival without any obstacles for the runners to negotiate and Willie Mullins has saddled 14 winners since 1996, the Bumper has been a surprisingly difficult race to call over the years, not least because a majority of Mullins’s winners have come at double-figure prices in races where the stable also fielded a warm favourite. The 25-1 success of Briar Hill, with then-stable jockey Ruby Walsh in the saddle, remains one of the most puzzling festival SPs of recent seasons, while Relegate (25-1), Champagne Fever (16-1) and Ferny Hollow (11-1) have also landed the spoils for Mullins since 2012. The market is currently struggling to find a favourite from three Mullins-trained runners – Copacabana, Bambino Fever and Gameofinches – and another, Kalypso’Chance, from the Gordon Elliott yard. All four are among the 10 unbeaten runners in the 17-strong field, and it will be fascinating to see how the market develops as race-time approaches.
SELECTION: BAMBINO FEVER.
Keith Donoghue wins the Cross Country Chase for a fifth time, and on a third horse, having previously led Tiger Roll and Delta Work to victory. “I ride for the right people – Gordon [Elliott] before and Gavin [Cromwell] today. He didn’t jump all that well today, the ground was a bit tough for him, but he stayed in and once we got ahead, he was never going to be beat.”
Cross Country Chase: Donoghue strikes again on Stumptown
Cheltenham 3.20
1 Stumptown (K M Donoghue) 5-2 Fav
2 Latenightpass (Miss Gina Andrews) 11-1
3 Vanillier (S W Flanagan) 15-2
4 The Goffer (S Bowen) 6-1
16 ran
3.20 Cross Country Chase: As they head onto the main track, Stumptown gets beyond Latenightpass at the last and pulls clear. Victory for the favourite, ridden by Keith Donoghue, with Latenightpass second for Gina Andrews. Vanillier and The Goffer emerge from early struggles to finish third and fourth.
3.20 Cross Country Chase: Minella Crooner is pulled up at the back and Escaria Ten takes up the lead, with Latenightpass moving through the field. Chemical Energy also improving alongside Stumptown and French Dynamite …
3.20 Cross Country Chase: Past the halfway mark and French Dynamite now leads, with Vanillier recovering well from that mistake. Gevrey and The Goffer near the back, Galvin mired in midfield.
3.20 Cross Country Chase: As they head out on their second circuit, Mister Coffey still leads with Escaria Ten second. Stumptown, Iwilldoit and French Dynamite are near the front, but Minella Crooner is losing touch.
3.20 Cross Country Chase: Third time lucky as they finally get away, taking on a replica of the Chair on the third of 31 fences. Vanillier was the early leader but almost took a wrong turn after that jump; Mister Coffey now leads from Stumptown.
A false start in the Cross Country, with the pack getting close to the first fence after a late flag. After Tiger Roll won in 2018, 2019 and 2021, Delta Work went back-to-back in 2022 and 2023 – but there was no race last year due to a waterlogged track.
3.20 Cross Country Chase odds update
This next race is the festival’s most esoteric event, with runners tackling the cross-country course with its equestrian fences before a run around the main course. A conditions race since 2016 and once the playground of Tiger Roll, it has reverted to a handicap this year.
Greg Wood’s tip: A return to handicap conditions means that Stumptown, a cosy winner over course and distance at the December meeting, looks a fair bet to follow up from an 8lb higher mark.
Odds via Oddschecker:
Stumptown 3/1
Galvin 9/2
Mister Coffey 6/1
Busselton 13/2
Vanillier 15/2
The Goffer 17/2
Latenightpass 16/1
Iwilldoit 20/1
Chemical Energy 20/1
Coko Beach 28/1
Bar 33/1 – 16 Runners
Market movers via Oddspedia:
The Goffer (20/1 into 8/1)
Mister Coffey (7/1 into 6/1)
Iwilldoit (25/1 into 20/1)
Awaiting a full result, but ITV reports that Colonel Mustard, Beckett Rock and Beacon Edge finished fifth to seventh, with some bookies paying out on more places. Be Aware, the pre-race favourite, was travelling well but ended up in eighth.
Danny Mullins: “The snow this morning, I thought would help his chances – he hit his stride and finished strong. You don’t take any winners here for granted, it’s always a special feeling.” Jimmy Du Seuil finished second to Ballyburn in last year’s Novices Hurdle, but has enjoyed this year’s festival more than his stablemate.
Coral Cup: Jimmy De Seuil wins another for Mullins
Cheltenham 2.40
1 Jimmy Du Seuil (DE Mullins) 16-1
2 Impose Toi (N de Boinville) 13-2
3 Ballyadam (Rachael Blackmore) 16-1
4 Beat The Bat (Bryan Carver) 11-2
26 ran
Also: 3-1 Fav Be Aware
2.40 Coral Cup: Impose Toi moves to the front, with Jimmy Du Seuil alongside as they approach the last … Colonel Mustard is close but falling behind the leading two … it’s Jimmy De Seuil who wins it, another one for Willie Mullins.
2.40 Coral Cup: The pace picking up with Bunting taking up the lead from Al Gasparo … Be Aware starting to make a move, but Anna Bunina struggling.
2.40 Coral Cup: The grey Be Aware is in midfield as we approach the halfway mark; Captain Morgs, Beat The Bat and Anna Bunina are in the group behind the leaders.
2.40 Coral Cup: Al Gasparo has taken up the early running, with Might I and Bunting not far behind.
They’re off in the Coral Cup: Be Aware goes off as favourite, but Beat the Bat and Comfort Zone have closed the gap. It’s a first-time start, too.
This next race, the Coral Cup is something of a pin-sticker’s special, with 26 runners in a handicap contest. Darts and football fans may want a flutter on Bunting – owned by Brighton’s Tony Bloom – or there’s Colonel Mustard for the board game fans.
I also feel obliged to point out that Lossiemouth, an 80-1 shot, is not the same horse as yesterday’s winner. How is that possible? Well, racing doyen Tony Paley has explained they are bred in different countries – the Mares Hurdle winner is from France.
Greg Wood
Preview: 4.40 Grand Annual Challenge Cup Handicap Chase, 1m 7f 199yds
Once the Grade One horses have strutted their stuff over the two-mile course, it is time for the handicappers to have a go and this year’s Grand Annual has a typically long list of possibilities to ponder. Space does not really allow for a full consideration, but Unexpected Party is an obvious place to start as last year’s winner is just 6lb higher in the weights this time around and seems certain to go close. Gavin Cromwell has yet to register a winner at this year’s meeting but three of his five runners have made the frame and another, Now Is The Hour in yesterday’s National Hunt Chase, was still in with every chance when he fell two out. As a result, his three runners – My Mate Mozzie, Midnight It Is and The King Of PRs – are all worth a second look, while the runners for money this morning are Jpr One, from the Joe Tizzard stable, and Primoz, bidding to give the outstanding Lucinda Russell stable a second handicap chase win at the meeting after Myretown’s victory in the Ultima on Tuesday.
SELECTION: UNEXPECTED PARTY.
Coral Cup (2.40) odds update
Odds via Oddschecker:
Be Aware 4/1
Impose Toi 13/2
Beat The Bat 8/1
Comfort Zone 8/1
Bunting 9/1
Jipcot 12/1
Jimmy Du Seuil 14/1
Ballyadam 18/1
Sandor Clegane 20/1
Colonel Mustard 25/1
25/1 bar
Market movers via Oddspedia:
Be Aware (5/1 into 7/2)
Beat The Bat (16/1 into 8/1)
A correction: today has not seen the first snowfall at Cheltenham since 1974 – it is, according to ITV, the first time there’s been a centimetre of snow overnight since then. As a couple of you have pointed out, the 1987 Gold Cup was a winter wonderland:
Lecky Watson wins Novices’ Chase as Ballyburn falls short
Cheltenham 2.00
1 Lecky Watson (S F O’Keeffe) 20-1
2 Stellar Story (D J Gilligan) 22-1
3 Better Days Ahead (J W Kennedy) 13-2
7 ran
Also: 4-7 Fav Ballyburn, 11-1 Gorgeous Tom 4th
It’s a victory for Willie Mullins, although not the one that was expected. Sean O’Keeffe, who brought home 28-1 shot Lecky Watson. “I’m over the moon, when I got the ride on him I thought: he’s got a good chance.” He also dedicates the win to Michael O’Sullivan.
2.00 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase: Over the third last, there’s an error from Dancing City – and Lecky Watson goes over the last three lengths clear! Stellar Story is challenging, but nobody will catch Lecky Watson here … Stellar Story may have just nicked second from Better Days Ahead.
