Azertyuiop's connections celebrate the win.
AZERTYUIOP WIN BAFFLES BOOKIES
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Azertyuiop's victory over Well Chief in the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury produced contrasting reaction from the bookmakers.
Moscow Flyer was cut to 6-4 from 7-4 by totesport for the Queen Mother Champion Chase while Well Chief - who didn't jump well - was pushed out to 5-2 from 9-4, the same price as Azertyuiop who was left unchanged.
Totesport spokesman Damian Walker said: "The race may have come too soon for Well Chief so Martin Pipe will have to get him back on track in the next month or
so for the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
"We take the view that Moscow Flyer is the one to beat out of the front three in the market and want to be on
the right side of Jessica Harrington's chaser come Cheltenham."
Ladbrokes responded differently to Azertyuiop's win by making him their 7-4 joint favourite with Moscow Flyer while pushing Well Chief out to 11-4 from 2-1.
Hills went a stage further, both making Azertyuiop their new favourite at 13-8 and 6-4 respectively.
And the trainers of the Newbury front two were both talking a good game ahead of Cheltenham.
Paul Nicholls said of the winner: "Ruby (Walsh) kept saying to me that we didn't want to have him right before the big day, and I'm absolutely delighted as he was heavy
today.
"It's going to be a fantastic race at Cheltenham. I hope we can beat Moscow Flyer, but I wouldn't rule out Well Chief as he probably had a bit of a hard race a fortnight ago, and it might just have left its mark."
Meanwhile Martin Pipe said: "Well Chief has still run a good race, but I'm sure he prefers Cheltenham. He made a mistake early on which didn't help him, and he lost a bit of confidence.
"He's tough. The winner was stopping at the end, but Cheltenham's a different story."
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