RaceiQ at the Festival: Patient ploy pays in Champion Chase
By Andy Stephens
Last Updated: Wed 11 Mar 2026
Front-runners thrived at Cheltenham on Wednesday, however it was the patiently ridden Il Etait Temps who stole the show in the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase.
The grey, trained by Willie Mullins, was off the pace and losing ground with his jumping over the fences in the first half of a strongly-run race, but, crucially, Paul Townend was keeping his powder dry and when he invited the multiple Grade One winner to move forwards the response was explosive.
Il Etait Temps sauntered to the front in the home straight before giving his supporters a scare when stumbling at the final fence, where he lost 7.66mph. However, the energy saved in the early stages helped him pick up again and pull away for a decisive success.
His Top Speed of just under 36mph was the highest of the race and his Finishing Speed Percentage of 101.68% was also best. Plenty of his rivals were paddling, but he was able to keep powering on.
His stablemate, Majborough, the hot favourite, dazzled early on as he flew over the opening obstacles. He attacked the first fence at 35.46mph and over the first five gained 5.42 lengths.
But the exhibition didn’t last. Just as in the Arkle last year, he made a string of errors and eventually trailed home seventh.
The data confirms his worst error came three out, where he hit the fence hard and lost 8.71mph. By contrast, Il Etait Temps entered that fence at 33.81mph and exited at a mooth 33.35mph.
It perfectly summed up the fortunes of the pair.
Earlier, front-running Kitzbuhel, also trained by Mullins, had given another great display of jumping to take the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the main expense of Final Demand.
The grey had given a great exhibition of leaping when landing the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton over Christmas and was similarly flamboyant under Harry Cobden.
Overall, he got a score of 9.2 out of 10 for his jumping, with the next best being Final Demand, his stablemate, who got 8.6.
One of the highlights was the way he flew over the 13th obstacle, which he entered at 31.53mph and exited not much slower at 31.14mph. By contrast, Romeo Coolio lost 6.36mph at the obstacle and was eventually pulled up. Previously a sound jumper, he lost more than nine lengths in the air on this occasion.
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