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Road To Cheltenham: round-up of the senior chasers over Christmas

Last Updated: Tue 5 Dec 2023

It’s a busy time of year, so forgive me that I'm just getting on with it. There is a lot of ground to cover. This column deals with the pick of the chasing action during the Christmas period. The next will perform the same function for the hurdlers, while we will also look separately at the novice chasers. Thursday’s column will then catch up with the action either side of the New Year fireworks.

Staying chasers

The crowd doesn’t believe impressive Ladbrokes King George VI Chase winner Bravemansgame can win the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup. Given that collective view currently translates to 10/1 ante-post, the percentage call is to back him. Baldly, he currently boasts the best staying form bar none this season – and the third-best overall – yet still he languishes in fifth in the betting.

So why have I not backed him? I’ve been asking myself the same question.

I cannot discount the view that the argument against Bravemansgame fails to outmatch the price available. However, it’s my general contention that the component least adequately weighed in most markets is the impact of track topography on performance. And perversely, when it is factored in, it tends to be overblown – cf. Paisley Park in the next column.

Bravemansgame delivered a career-best effort when beating Royale Pagaille by 14 lengths on Boxing Day at Kempton. L’Homme Pressé would have finished second, around two lengths behind, had he not compounded his habitual left-handed jumping with a stumble at the last, decanting Charlie Deutsch.

Watch the full replay as Bravemansgame delivers in the King George

“I thought he was as well as we could possibly get him,” winning trainer Paul Nicholls declared afterwards on Racing TV. “If he didn’t win today, he wasn’t good enough – simple as that. We had no excuses in his prep.”

Nicholls had been working backwards from the 2022 King George ever since this horse won the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase – just as he said he would, post-victory 12 months ago. Bravemansgame is particularly suited by Kempton – and perhaps more pertinently, so many of his rivals – L’Homme Pressé, Royale Pagaille, Ahoy Senor, even Eldorado Allen – are not.

We didn’t know this for certain about the moral* runner-up prior to Kempton as he had dealt with adjusting left at both Ascot and Sandown previously. (*Unpaid accolade, Ruby Walsh would note.) But in open Grade One company against horses only a few pounds distinct in ability, such fine margins count. (No matter what my co-presenter argued in an earlier episode!) L’Homme Pressé could have been better than Bravemansgame despite this flaw; we now know he is clearly not.

The winner used his best asset – nimble, efficient jumping – to devastating effect here. On a day when there was a conspicuous number of bizarre mistakes, both from seasoned chasers in the King George and novices in the Kauto Star – Bravemansgame’s intelligence in this department was manifest. Look at how he adjusted his take-off at the second fence – an obstacle that caused an unusually high quantity of problems over the two-day meeting – when he spots something that causes him to recalculate and alter his stride. He must be a joy to ride.

Throughout the contest, he was inconvenienced by L’Homme Pressé’s increasing tendency to jump left but both Nicholls and winning jockey Harry Cobden had resolved to keep him to the outside to give him space. This, the trainer later explained, was the conclusion they each drew from Bravemansgame’s abject performance in Aintree’s Mildmay Novices’ Chase in April.

Asked about the wide trip at Kempton by Tom Stanley on Racing TV, Nicholls said: “He does like a bit of room – as you saw when we rode him at Wetherby last time, a little bit of room suits him. We made an error at Aintree last season, going around the inner on him. The only trouble was L’Homme Pressé was jumping across us all the way [in the King George], but in a race like that you can’t take a pull, drop in behind and lose two lengths, so we had to put up with that.”

Paul Nicholls debriefed Racing TV viewers after Kempton success

At Aintree, Bravemansgame appeared to hold the ideal pitch when switched into Ahoy Senor’s slipstream on the inside after the fourth, just as L’Homme Pressé was shifted to the outside. The leader – and eventual impressive winner – characteristically jumped right throughout, bothering both rivals. After an early error, Bravemansgame’s usually impeccable jumping unravelled.

At the time, I wondered whether crowding had contributed to that display but Nicholls’ pre-season comments suggested there was more to it. Over the summer, the horse underwent surgery for the second time to augment his breathing and was also placed on a diet to address stomach ulcers.

Supporters of Bravemansgame had better hope those physical issues were to blame for Aintree because – as Ruby noted in our latest on-the-road edition of Road To Cheltenham at Leopardstown this week – you’re unlikely to be able to race that wide and win a Gold Cup.

Cobden also had a second facet in his mind, however. “I also needed [L’Homme Pressé] to give us a lead into the straight because I didn’t think Frodon was quite good enough to take us down to the second last [whereas] he was, so that was why I stuck it out and followed him,” he said.

Cobden hit the front too soon over the course and distance at Kempton in the 2018 Kauto Star on Topofthegame and on the currently-sidelined Clan Des Obeaux in last year’s King George. It was clearly high in his mind not to make the same mistake on Bravemansgame and that consideration trumped the aggravation of being persistently carried left. However, Ruby also argued that had Cobden tucked inside L’Homme Pressé, where there was sufficient space, his mount would have won even more impressively.

Much of the negative analysis on Bravemansgame’s Gold Cup chances has focussed on perceived stamina doubts. It’s possible an extended three miles might stretch him – especially on testing ground, which his trainer also believes he does not enjoy – but that’s not the overriding concern I would hold for Cheltenham.

“He looks more and more like a stayer every time he runs now, doesn’t he?” Cobden said. “I was off the bridle turning in and as soon as he got upsides L’Homme Pressé, I didn’t ease up on him but I wasn’t as aggressive as I was. He’s pinged the second last and I thought: right, let’s go and win our race. And he’s exactly done that.”

“You have to stay,” agreed Nicholls, of the stamina test represented by a King George. “He stayed on very strongly because they go a good gallop here, there’s no hiding place, you don’t get a breather. Cheltenham sometimes suits a horse like him on decent ground because he’s got enough boot – he can travel up and down those hills and keep taking a pull. Different in a slog.”

To my mind – as well as the ruggedness of the Gold Cup experience that Ruby has already identified as a potential concern – it’s the “travel[ling] up and down those hills” that will be pivotal. As I mentioned in the latest Road To Cheltenham show, I can’t dismiss from my mind the fact he finished a 12-length third to Bob Olinger in the 2021 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle when he should have been second.

There are four immediate drawbacks to placing too much emphasis on this form-line: it’s dusty, over hurdles, at a trip more than seven furlongs shy of the Gold Cup, and the primary reason for the manner of his defeat is not obvious. Therefore, its applicability to this argument can fairly be questioned. Bravemansgame is undoubtedly a different horse now – he’s more mature, better over fences and clearly stays three miles strongly. Nicholls has spoken persuasively about how much more hard work the horse can sustain at home now that he’s seven-rising-eight.

However, that Festival defeat is also the latest occasion on which Bravemansgame raced on an undulating track, therefore it remains inescapably germane to any assessment of his chance at Cheltenham. I can’t imagine such placing has been coincidental in Nicholls’ campaigning. He is rightly celebrated for distributing his horses astutely – just look at what Frodon and Clan Des Obeaux have achieved despite their lack of dominance and various course preferences.

Since that Ballymore defeat, Nicholls has confined this horse to Aintree, Newton Abbot, Haydock, Kempton, Newbury and Wetherby – flat tracks, all. Yes, he was going run in last term’s Brown Advisory but the trainer had made it very clear en-route this was the owners’ preferred target. He has since admitted he was delighted to grasp the excuse of heavy rain to withdraw.

Furthermore, his two lesser runs as a novice hurdler came on undulating tracks. Again, you can excuse these for different reasons – inadequate trips and immaturity – but, taken as a whole, there is a striking correspondence between Bravemansgame’s best form and flat tracks.

He didn’t run badly in the Ballymore and perhaps he just needed niggling along throughout the second circuit to make it as much of a test as possible to run the sting out of Bob Olinger – ah, remember the days when he had one? But it’s also possible the place interrupts his rhythm.

Those were the days... Bob Olinger leaves Bravemansgame behind up the hill

We won’t get a chance to gather further evidence in this case as Nicholls has stated the next stop is Cheltenham. “He doesn’t need a prep-run. He’s brilliant fresh, so we’ll give him a nice month quiet and then build him up,” he said.

My final concern about Bravemansgame is his pre-race demeanour on the big occasion. He was keen on both occasions that he contested Aintree’s Grand National meeting and on Boxing Day he wore a red hood in the preliminaries, was on his toes and dodged the pre-race parade in favour of heading straight to the start. The atmosphere is much more febrile and difficult to evade at the Festival.

So, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

Can L’Homme Pressé run at least two lengths better in the Gold Cup? Clearly, he was disadvantaged by Kempton – just as owner Andy Edwards feared he would be – and adjusting left over 18 fences, with the resultant loss of rhythm, probably does add up to at least that much.

He was ridden by Deutsch with at least comparable aggression at Kempton as when winning the Brown Advisory in March, but in the latter case it was noticeable how much inroads both runner-up Ahoy Senor and third-placed Gaillard Du Mesnil – who’s still qualified as a novice – were making on his lead up the final hill at Cheltenham. The Gold Cup is staged on a more galloping course and over two furlongs further. He could be ridden more conservatively, but I’m not now convinced that 8/1 appeals either.

It will be interesting to see how Venetia Williams recovers his season from here. She has commented more than once previously that L’Homme Pressé is as effective over shorter than three miles, so I would expect him to be entered in the Ryanair as well as the Gold Cup even though he’s not currently quoted in that market. His overarching ability was underlined by Into Overdrive’s Rowland Meyrick success at Wetherby on Boxing Day (also discussed later) – a horse to whom he gave 26lbs and a length beating in the Rehearsal Chase.

The truly-run nature of the King George enabled Royale Pagaille to perform well, despite two errors. He would, of course, have been a well-beaten third but for the last-fence misfortune of his stable companion. Deeper ground – this was more like good-to-soft on times rather than the official ‘soft’ – would have slowed his rivals down at a track that demands more tactical pace than he possesses, but another honourable run in the Gold Cup can be expected.

Cheltenham might not be ideal for him, but his low, French style of jumping had further adapted to its demands when finishing a more competitive fifth at the second attempt last year compared with 12 months earlier (when he admittedly also sustained a grave hoof injury).

First, a hat-trick of successes in the Peter Marsh beckons from the same mark as last year’s victory (unless reassessed on Monday), but the Cotswold Chase is also a viable alternative if the Haydock event comes a week too soon following these exertions. This was a belated seasonal debut due to a training setback, after all.

Third-placed Frodon, stable companion to the winner, ran better than the margin of his defeat suggests. Harried by L’Homme Pressé into racing a step quicker than Bryony Frost would have liked – certainly quicker than when the partnership controlled the pace for victory in 2020, but less self-defeatingly than when fourth 12 months ago – Frodon only folded at the top of the straight.

Nicholls will be pot-hunting suitable targets when they arise for him, having already mentioned the Cotswold Chase (provided the ground is not too deep) and Taunton’s Portman Cup, which the trainer has won for the past three years with Yala Enki.

He also mentioned in the Nick Luck Daily podcast on Tuesday (listen below) that Hitman – pulled up in the King George before two out and reported to have bled from the nose by the British Horseracing Authority’s veterinary officer – had probably sustained his injury via breasting the 14th fence with a jolting error. He was also one of many horses to stand too far off the 2nd/11th fence, too.

Nicholls doesn’t expect bleeding to be a recurring problem. “It was enough to stop him, but I suspect what he did when he made that very bad mistake, he landed in on the fence. That often causes them to take a big gulp and sort of wind themselves and then bleed. He’s not a bleeder. It probably won’t happen again.

“I’d say we’ll get him right for the spring – probably go somewhere like the Ascot Chase over 2m5f, those sort of trips, and ride him a bit more positively. I think it suits him to be ridden and use his jumping, rather than being dropped in.”

Eldorado Allen was below his best in fourth, beaten 22 lengths, but still managed to stay on past the weakening Ahoy Senor. The grey stood off the second and crashed through it – one of many to do that, as I mentioned – before blundering four fences later and losing his pitch after the 11th. I am sure he is better at left-handed tracks, albeit he is also a shade below top class.

It’s hard to understand why Lucinda Russell opted to run Ahoy Senor at Kempton rather than in the Rowland Meyrick. She was never likely to learn anything useful. (I’d have gone: Charlie Hall, Coral Gold Cup (Hennessy in old money), Savills Chase or Rowland Meyrick, Cotswold or Denman Chase, Gold Cup, Betway Bowl since you’re not asking.)

Ahoy Senor’s Kauto Star defeat by Bravemansgame in 2021 had already demonstrated that such a big, old-fashioned chaser is fundamentally unsuited by the emphasis this too-tight track places on speed. Although he ran poorly at Wetherby on seasonal debut, that performance appeared connected more to his overly fresh demeanour than anything intrinsic to the racecourse itself.

Russell had also mooted applying cheekpieces but wisely pulled back from that idea after trialling them in schooling. Given Ahoy Senor pulls for his head, anything providing further pep is the last thing jockey Derek Fox needs. You long for him to give Ahoy Senor his head and race within his own rhythm, one that you suspect is not as fast as the horse imagines it is.

I fear this setback will convince Russell to run Ahoy Senor in the Ultima – a handicap, yes, but on the tighter Old Course which the Brown Advisory plainly testifies doesn’t suit him as much as the more galloping New Course would. Personally, I’d persist with the Gold Cup as it is probably the one of a small handful of tests in the entire calendar (bar the Coral Gold Cup, Welsh National and – gulp – perhaps Eider Chase) that suits in terms of track and trip. Channel Sir Rembrandt.

I don’t know what Henry de Bromhead should be thinking about Envoi Allen, other than again ringing Down Royal’s autumn meeting in his calendar. Dropped in last from the outset, this horse made mistakes at the fifth and sixth, and never once hinted at getting competitive. Rachael Blackmore said he’d “jumped poorly”. In the absence of other straws to clutch, the trainer’s representative blamed the “tacky” ground. Maybe HE should run in the Ultima?

In first-time cheekpieces and facing his deepest opposition yet, Millers Bank reached for the first and was shaken up on landing. It was downhill from there. He put down at the third, getting in too close, lacked fluency at the next and was struggling by the start of the final circuit. It’s hard to blame the ground, as trainer Alex Hales subsequently did, however. He’s worth another attempt at this trip but in lesser company. The Denman Chase might be worth a spin.

As previously mentioned, Into Overdrive extended his arc of improvement with victory in the most competitive edition of Wetherby’s Rowland Meyrick I can recall for some time. Trainer Mark Walford mentioned Doncaster’s Sky Bet Chase and the Ultima as potential targets, indicating that he’d prefer a rehearsal over Aintree’s big fences before trying the Grand National – although the handicapper might yet force his hand as graded company beckons.

Runner-up and fellow seven-year-old Sounds Russian, conceding 15lb to the winner, continues to run with creditable consistency and a Gold Cup entry would be far from fanciful – albeit he would likely be a fringe player in what admittedly looks to be a hot edition. A superior stamina challenge would be right up his street, so something like the Peter Marsh or Cotswold Chase make appeal as a suitable next step.

Third-placed Fanion D’Estruval – fourth in last term’s Ryanair – doesn’t seem to be able to hold a competitive mid-race position regardless of trip. It was a shame to read that Chantry House has sustained a season-ending injury, albeit not surprising given the force of his directly plunging fall three out when staying on, perhaps for fourth, after flattering to achieve something better.

“He has a little non-displaced fracture in the wing of one vertebra in his neck. It sounds horrible but the vets are optimistic that he’ll make a full recovery,” Nicky Henderson reported. “There is nothing that can be done apart from box rest, although at this stage I don’t know how long that will take.”

Aye Right bounced back to some extent after pulling up in the Rehearsal Chase whilst Top Ville Ben ran well for some way in an event he won two years ago. Zanza naturally ran a shocker after his silky Newbury win last time, whilst former Grade One novice chase winner Kalashnikov – though ultimately well beaten – suggested he retains some ability on his first start for 648 days.

Beaten favourite Shan Blue ran shockingly, returned to the scene of what would have been a standout success in last term’s Charlie Hall but for a heavy fall three out. That moment threatens to overshadow his entire career. He was pulled up, as was Sporting John – whose next date will surely be with a Pertemps Qualifier.

In Ireland, Conflated delivered on the unambiguous promise of his seasonal debut third to Envoi Allen at Down Royal with a performance of some maturity to win the Savills Chase. After adjusting right a shade ponderously at the first fence, he thereafter jumped with a soundness and fluency that has sometimes been lacking in the past – especially over shorter distances.

Conflated takes over with a circuit to go and runs away with the Savills Chase

Leopardstown was the scene of his surprising previous career-best success in last term’s Irish Gold Cup under a guileful ride by the now-retired Davy Russell. Yet Conflated backed up that form in the Ryanair, when unable to go the pace set by Allaho but working his way to challenge for second until falling two out, and when chasing home Clan Des Obeaux in the Betway Bowl. Staying trips are clearly more his bag – albeit both his Grade One wins have been achieved in falsely run races, meaning the question of his stamina capabilities still hangs over the Gold Cup.

Winning rider Jack Kennedy said he’d chosen to go on after the ninth as his mount was getting lit up passing the stands due to the steady pace dictated by Paul Townend on Kemboy. He then increased the pace approaching three out and asked for a good leap at the next, which immediately put all of his rivals under pressure and sealed their fate. Admittedly, Conflated largely beat a field of the usual, ageing suspects but he did so with calm authority.

Michael O’Leary, in whose Gigginstown Stud silks the horse won, suggested he won’t defend his Irish Gold Cup crown but will instead head – those dread three words – straight to Cheltenham. That seems more than a bit daft with a horse who has only had two starts so far this season and will face in the Gold Cup at least four rivals boasting superior form to him this season – and that doesn’t even include the titleholder. Hopefully, trainer Gordon Elliott will persuade him otherwise...

Runner-up Kemboy, who’s rising eleven and again wore cheekpieces, usually runs well at Leopardstown despite his habit of adjusting right and did so again. He was kept to the outside by Townend whilst the winner stuck to the inner.

Third-placed Fury Road ran creditably on his first shot at open Grade One company but without suggesting he will supersede his winning stablemate in the Cullentra rankings any time soon. He sought to hang left under Jordan Gainford in the straight.

The Mouse Morris-trained French Dynamite, fresh from his narrow Paddy Power Gold Cup defeat and another debutant at this level, ran respectably over a trip that surely stretches him but his jumping continues to hold him back. Whilst this round didn’t contain the errors that handed the advantage to Ga Law at Cheltenham last month, it lacked fluency and he was slow to convert on landing compared with these high-class opponents.

Trip-less Franco De Port started to pull hard mid-race and made no impact late whilst Royal Rendezvous, his stable companion at Willie Mullins’ yard, sat last and was never involved on his first attempt at three miles under Rules.

Galvin, Elliott’s other runner, has lost his mojo – even if this stop-start gallop wouldn’t have suited. He conceded a prominent pitch on the first circuit, made an error at the 12th and was instantly outpaced when the tempo lifted approaching three out. This compounded his dull effort in Down Royal’s Champion Chase – billed beforehand as “his Gold Cup” and for which he was match-fit.

Of course, the notable absentee was A Plus Tard – last season’s brilliant Gold Cup winner, hoped to be set on a recovery mission after his uncharacteristically disengaged effort when defending his Betfair Chase crown last month. De Bromhead believed he had identified the cause as some form of infection picked up whilst travelling to Haydock, uncovered by subsequent blood tests.

However, A Plus Tard was withdrawn by vets at Leopardstown just hours prior to the Savills when found to have banged a joint. “The vets are going to dig deeper and he’s moving perfect, but he’s just given his joint a bang. It’s a bit angry-looking,” reported de Bromhead at the time.

He then updated Racing TV viewers on New Year's Day after watching Minella Indo (more on him from me later this week) beat off Stattler at Thurles.

Henry de Bromhead gives Racing TV viewers the latest on the reigning Gold Cup hero

“I thought it was much better today. The swelling around his joint gave us a fright," he told Gary O'Brien. “It was slightly worse today, but it's definitely improving now. We've got a couple more tests to run but his leg felt much better today so hopefully we are over the worst of it.”

That leaves the trainer with a preparation quandary, however. Does he go straight to the Gold Cup, given A Plus Tard has opted out between Christmas and Cheltenham for the past three seasons with good end results? Or does he seek the reassurance of a prep-run – perhaps, as Ruby suggested in the latest show, in the Kinloch Brae (a.k.a. the Horse And Jockey Hotel Chase) at Thurles – a race won by Allaho for the past two seasons but not used as a successful Gold Cup stepping-stone since Don Cossack in 2016. It’s a tough one.

De Bromhead himself also seemed unsure.

“It's a good question,” he said. “I don't know. We were able to get him spot-on for Haydock last year. So we'll see. I don't know if I want to empty him out on real soft ground.

“Probably his only option is the Irish Gold Cup. Sometimes you get pushed into things and it works out favourably for you. But we'll get him 100 per cent right and see what everyone thinks. We can work it out between us and see."

To return to where we started, however, A Plus Tard’s Gold Cup success still sets the standard in this division on form but his tribulations this season mean he’s available to back at 9/1 rather than the 4/1 on offer before his one bad run.

Supporters of thrusting young rival Galopin Des Champs have three good reasons to be cheerful: the quality of his form in the Turners (though incomplete), Fairyhouse last April (his best) and his seasonal debut John Durkan romp. He’s best-priced at 7/4.

Bravemansgame currently stands next in the achievement hierarchy yet not in the betting, after improving on his best-yet effort in the Charlie Hall with probably the classiest success in the King George since Cue Card defeated Vautour by a head in 2015. As discussed, L’Homme Pressé is snapping at his heels, though shorter in the betting at 8/1 best – as is 2022 Betfair Chase winner, Protektorat, who heads next to the Cotswold Chase and is as long as 10/1 (only with BetFred).

Cue Card, who maintained an enthusiastic bearing throughout a career that spanned eight seasons in the top echelon, died of a heart attack last week at his home with the Tizzard family. This season’s Gold Cup is squaring up to be the calibre of contest in which one of these successors can start to carve a comparable place in British racing’s history.

Two-mile and intermediate-distance chasers

Whilst Edwardstone played only a cameo role in his Christmas engagement at Kempton, Blue Lord stole the show at Leopardstown with a display of such dominance in the Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase that Willie Mullins has reverted to his original, arguably more ambitious Cheltenham plan in response.

After beating his subsequently-injured stablemate Tornado Flyer in the Clonmel Oil Chase last month, Blue Lord had been notionally set on the Ryanair trail rather than – as declared in Closutton’s pre-season stable tours – the Queen Mother Champion Chase. However, this 11-length Grade One success in a decent time saw Plan A again take precedence.

Blue Lord puts some decent rivals in their place at Leopardstown

Typically, Blue Lord was hard to settle and that caused him to peck on landing at the first fence, but the pace was true enough for Townend to find both cover and a rhythm. The mare Jeremys Flame took the field along whilst Andy Dufresne was detached and struggling – exacerbated by a big, slow jump at the first – from fence three.

Gentleman De Mee – who had built on his disappointing seasonal debut at Naas with (a still admittedly distant) fourth in the Tingle Creek – lost his prominent inside position via a bad blunder at the sixth and then all chance in the race with a further error four out, landing in a heap just as the race started to develop in earnest.

Captain Guinness – a calmer, more reliable proposition this season – had joined Jeremys Flame in the vanguard at the seventh, forcing or coinciding with a mistake from the mare. Pilot Rachael Blackmore then moved him to take over outright two fences later. Both Blue Lord and stablemate, favourite Chacun Pour Soi, covered her move.

Kept towards the outer by Townend, Chacun Pour Soi had lost a prominent early position but jumped through to the heels of the leader three out, followed by Blue Lord but leaving behind the slower-jumping Jeremys Flame. Yet just Townend asked for an attack two out, Chacun Pour Soi put down on him, making a chance-ending blunder out to his right.

Daryl Jacob, who’d been shadowing on Blue Lord, took advantage of his stable companion’s misfortune to pounce. Rounding the home turn towards the final fence, with a powerful surge he straightforwardly mastered Captain Guinness, who hung left when headed.

Behind the principals, Chacun Pour Soi was hard ridden in recovery mode to snatch third from Coeur Sublime, who had jumped a tad upright but was still going okay after the last, only to find relatively little when finally asked for his effort. He needs things to fall apart, finding himself in front when the music stops.

Townend’s mount might well have made a race of it with the winner, his abortive manoeuvre reminiscent of his 2020 success in this race, but this opposition was deeper, he is rising eleven and has never been renowned for his finishing strength. It’s hard to imagine Blue Lord wouldn’t have picked him off even had Chacun Pour Soi been error-free.

Mullins had been talking about trying three miles with the beaten favourite this season, yet the Gold Cup is surely a bridge too far and Chacun Pour Soi wouldn’t be suited by trying to hang on in there behind Allaho in the Ryanair. Given any Closutton horse qualified for the Festival tends to run there, it’s not impossible he’ll have a third pop at the Champion Chase despite at least two stablemates being better than him at that trip these days. Whatever, he’s not built for Cheltenham, albeit he retains a relatively high level of ability and remains dangerous in the right circumstances.

Captain Guinness would run respectably in a Champion Chase, as he did when third to Shishkin in the 2021 Arkle, and might even hit the frame if the contest cuts up – albeit he’d be no fan of the final climb to the line either. Jeremys Flame is this season operating at a level that would make her competitive in the Mrs Paddy Power Chase. She stays beyond 2m4f and yet is largely overlooked in the market for that race at 20/1.

Blue Lord has almost eight lengths to find on Edwardstone from their Arkle encounter, in which he raced freely upsides the winner for much of the contest whilst the mares Magic Daze and the violently right-jumping Rivière D’Etel took each other on up front. Blue Lord guessed at the water, reached for four out and couldn’t match the winner’s forceful finish.

This was despite Edwardstone being repeatedly inconvenienced by Rivière D’Etel, to the extent that she collided with him mid-air two out. Far from being put off, he responded with a brilliant jump at the last in a performance whose hallmark was the zest with which he raced. A big turnaround in form from Blue Lord is required, given both horses have improved this season – and curbing his over-enthusiasm in a truly run race is key.

Step forward Editeur Du Gite, who demolished Kempton’s Desert Orchid Chase less than two hours after Blue Lord upped his bid in this division. It was a harum-scarum affair, with the bold-jumping winner pressing down hard on the accelerator from the outset at an unsustainable pace. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t keep going that fast nor that he adjusted left at most obstacles, though, as he’d burned off all opposition before entering the straight.

Edwardstone was the exception – he defeated himself with a low jump at the fifth (that bogey fence again), the impact of which mistake pitched him sideways and caused Tom Cannon to be unseated. This was not uncharacteristic in that Edwardstone often allows little margin for error in his trajectory, but he has never yet fallen and only previously caused an unseat back on his abortive chase debut in December 2020.

The best two-mile chasers – like the best two-mile hurdlers – live on the edge like that, as Ruby pointed out in the latest Road To Cheltenham show, so mishap is always a risk despite Edwardstone’s technical brilliance that enables him to gain ground at his fences. In fact, exactly because of his technical brilliance. The half- or quarter-points that bookmakers eased him for the Champion Chase are something of a (small) gift, if you like that sort of price.

This incident surely won’t have dented his confidence because the riderless horse stormed to the front before the next fence and was sure to precede Editeur Du Gite at every obstacle all the way to the winning post – a visual reminder of who still leads this division in Britain. Trainer Alan King was also unfazed.

“They’re both fine and there will be another day,” he commented. “Normally Edwardstone is very good but Tom said they just weren’t meeting it right. He’s got to have his flu jab next week and I’d imagine we’ll stick with the game plan and go to Newbury for the Game Spirit next.”

With winning jockey Niall Houlihan wearing the silks of wildly popular 2014 Champion Chase hero Sire De Grugy, also trained by Gary Moore, Editeur Du Gite recorded a standout career-best in this Grade Two event. He’s capable at Cheltenham, too, having won over two miles at both courses but in handicap company.

Those successes came under more measured front-running tactics from this rider but, either way, he’ll find it difficult to dominate in the Champion Chase – especially as he’s still got more than a stone to find against titleholder, Energumene. A second shot at the Grand Annual, in which the horse was fourth last season, had surely been on Moore’s agenda – not least judged by the atypical patient tactics employed at Cheltenham last time out, which predictably didn’t suit.

“Editeur Du Gite is not at his best right-handed,” the trainer commented after Kempton. “He is no Sire De Grugy but he ain’t far behind him. He will now have to go for the Game Spirit. He will have to have a Champion Chase entry as handicaps are definitely out of the question.”

Niall Houlihan talked to Racing TV after landing the Desert Orchid Chase

From Blue Lord’s keen-going perspective, Editeur Du Gite’s presence would help to ensure a good gallop in the Champion Chase but true end-to-end pace would actually be more guaranteed in the Ryanair – provided dual winner Allaho shows up, of course.

The most notable learning from the Desert Orchid was Nube Negra’s heavy defeat. Held up wide by Harry Skelton and well away from the headlong pace, he moved to within challenging distance of the winner before the home turn but found nothing after it. His jockey was noticeably quick to administer two reminders but this extracted no response, his mount labouring to account for the officially 18lb-inferior Dolos and take second.

Afterwards, trainer Dan Skelton blamed a combination of the ground – which won’t wash, as it was good-to-soft on times (rather than the official ‘soft’) – and having to concede 6lb to the winner, who administered a 13-length defeat. Truth is, this was just a poor performance – albeit the team generally endured an underwhelming Christmas by their own increasingly high standards.

Dolos performed respectably, running above his grade, but Funambule Sivola – second in the 2022 Champion Chase because somebody had to be – was outpaced and faded. Mister Fisher and Sizing Pottsie were pulled up, the former typically making a clutch of mistakes.

At Doncaster on Thursday, Zambella further enhanced a joyful Christmas period for Jacob by winning back-to-back editions of the Silver Vase Mares’ Listed chase. She made all with exhibition jumping, dispensing with her rivals before the straight and coming home in cruise control.

She is thriving currently and this was marginally a career-best effort. Her zesty run style can make her vulnerable at Cheltenham but in two attempts at the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase – fourth last year, four-and-a-half lengths behind Elimay, and falling three out when creeping into the race in 2021 – she hasn’t been far off the mark.

Runner-up Annie Mc didn’t do anything wrong, building on her reappearance (also behind Zambella at Carlisle) after almost a year off, but that’s a concern in terms of reversing form with the winner. She is yet to recover the ability she showed in the 2020/21 season, when winning this race by 15 lengths and going on to thump Zambella at Warwick.

On paper, unexpected Mrs Paddy Power runner-up Pink Legend recovered her form here in third after a lifeless run in the Peterborough Chase. But in reality, she jumped scruffily and lost her pitch disconcertingly early prior to a belated rally. Contrastingly, fourth-placed Maid O’Malley, who ran a huge race at 100/1 at last season’s Festival until coming down at the second last, ran better than it looks. She forfeited ground and rhythm, as she did at Cheltenham, by jumping persistently right.

Ruby’s portfolio

Advised 01/12/22: Noble Yeats at 66/1 for the Boodles Gold Cup with William Hill

Lydia’s portfolio

Advised 01/12/22: Ahoy Senor at 25/1 for the Boodles Gold Cup with various bookmakers

Advised 14/12/22: Hiddenvalley Lake at 8/1 with Bet365 or William Hill for the Albert Bartlett

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