Our man at the track Ben Linfoot picks out four points of interest on a wet day two of the Cheltenham Festival, featuring Energumene's success in the Champion Chase.
Cheltenham Festival 2022 | Day Two Reports
1. What to make of the Champion Chase?
Pouring and relentless rain, Shishkin pulled up when never going a yard, Chacun Pour Soi falling six from home; the back end fell out of the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase and not for the first time.
In the end it went to one of the highly-rated monsters, ENERGUMENE, who took full advantage of the travails of his main rivals with a serene success over good stick Funambule Sivola, the game Game Spirit winner, who was outclassed eight lengths in arrears.
It’s a shame the rematch didn’t develop as Paul Townend produced a surprising tactical switch by holding up Energumene from flag fall, seemingly intent on shadowing Shishkin rather than being the hare to his rabbit.
If that was Plan A then Plan B quickly had to be put in place, as Shishkin was struggling at an early stage, and when he was pulled up Energumene had already breezed past him to his outside.
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Townend had a good look around for his non-existent rivals a couple of times and he jumped to the front at the second last, taking over from Envoi Allen, and powered away up the hill to give Willie Mullins a first-ever Queen Mother Champion Chase.
The good thing about not really having a rematch is the hope that there’ll be a rematch, but such a thing won’t be at the forefront of Nicky Henderson’s mind as he scrambles around for answers following an insipid performance from his stable star.
Constant showers on watered ground didn’t help and there were plenty of non-runners on the day, but you wouldn’t think testing conditions would particularly hinder Shishkin who is well used to ploughing through the mud.
The going was changed to heavy after the Champion Chase and it was put forward as an excuse for Shishkin, so perhaps we should look forward to round three between himself and Energumene when the ground isn’t quite so obviously taxing.
There’s no getting away from it, though. It might be 1-1 following a great first round, but the highly-anticipated rematch was a real damp squib in more ways than one.
2. Is Sir Gerhard another Champion Hurdle contender for 2023?
Mullins might’ve stolen the show on day two but he tipped the fedora on less occasions than he’d have liked on day one of the Cheltenham Festival. Stattler finally got him off the mark in the closing race on Tuesday and predictably he went back-to-back after SIR GERHARD scored in the opening Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle on Wednesday.
A tip of the fedora after he’d spoken to Lydia Hislop on Racing TV saw a small droplet of rain fall from the brim and it was the same again after talking Rishi Persad through the race on ITV. Incessant rain had seen the ground changed to ‘Soft’ before the first, but such conditions were not a hinderance to Sir Gerhard who powered through the contest under Paul Townend.
After a difficult first day this win will have been a relief for Townend who had a job on keeping his mount relaxed in the first half of the contest. Used to racing over two miles, he was keen enough but had this won before the last because he was going so well.
Hard enough work up the hill, this wasn’t an extraordinary performance from the Constitution Hill bracket, but it was good enough in much different conditions and it will be interesting to see where Mullins points him in the future.
On the one hand he travelled like he could drop back in trip quite easily, but on the other he hurdled much more fluently for getting a lead over this intermediate distance. While Paddy Power and Betfair go 3/1 about both Constitution Hill and Honeysuckle for the 2023 Champion Hurdle, Sir Gerhard is now third best in at 8s.
One final point on Sir G. His owners Cheveley Park hit a 50% Cheltenham Festival strike-rate after this victory, Sir Gerhard their eighth winner from their 16th runner. The jumping operation is going sensationally well, even accounting for the sums spent, and they’ve still got Allaho and A Plus Tard to come.
3. Who is the future Gold Cup horse from the Brown Advisory?
Surely five-day Festival chat has to be put on the back burner after events this week. Six lined up in the National Hunt Chase, four are set to go in the Turners and after one morning of rain the two highest-rated horses in the Brown Advisory, Bravemansgame and Fury Road, were ruled out late, leaving a field of nine.
Paul Nicholls has made no secret of the fact that Cheltenham is not the be-all-and-end-all for him in recent seasons, and after the poor performance from Stage Star in the Ballymore stablemate Bravemansgame was swiftly removed from the next race despite being favourite and despite having won on soft in the Grade One Kauto Star at Kempton over Christmas.
Despite his withdrawal the race still went to the Brits, hurrah, who are smashing it up in the novice chases, at least until the Turners which has been handed on a plate to the Irish.
Venetia Williams won this one with L’HOMME PRESSE, ending a losing streak of 80 at the Festival that stretched back to Carrickboy in 2013. His jumping was superb and his victory a firm nod to the chances of The Glancing Queen in the Craft Irish Whiskey Co. Plate Handicap Chase, whom he beat in what looks a red-hot Dipper on New Year’s Day.
Introduced at 16/1 for the 2023 Gold Cup, he went some way to proving he stays that sort of distance on his first go at three miles, while he doesn’t look fully dependent on these sort of testing conditions, so it’s exciting times for connections.
Ahoy Senor also deserves a strong mention for finishing so close despite a shuddering mistake at the third last. He rallied impressively to push L’Homme Presse up the hill and he could well develop into a Gold Cup contender if he can eradicate the odd gormless leap that is currently holding him back.
4. Tiger Roll – what might have been?
Farewell TIGER ROLL. What a wonderful little horse he has been. Five Cheltenham Festival wins, from the Triumph to the National Hunt Chase to the Cross Country on three occasions, he bowed out in the latter race this afternoon with a heart-breaking second to stablemate Delta Work.
Heavy has never really been his bag if you listen to his trainer Gordon Elliott, although he did win his first Grand National on ground officially that testing, but he powered through the race on the front end with typical verve under Davy Russell and looked for all money like he might prevail coming up the hill.
It wasn’t to be as Delta Work got to him in the shadows of the post, owners Gigginstown typically spoiling the party with their own horse in the blue cap. Slashed to 16s for the Grand National, perhaps Delta Work can go onto Aintree and do a Tiger.
So it’s a shame that Tiger Roll couldn’t retire with a sixth Cheltenham Festival win, but it’s a travesty that he didn’t get the chance to go for a third Grand National.
History will say that the first lockdown denied him a crack at the hat-trick, but he’s had two more chances since then and his owners have simply never embraced his status as a public horse.
On the evidence of his final ever race he was in great nick with less than a month to the National and yet again it’s a case of what might’ve been.
Time will tell if the modern National will throw up repeat winners with more regularity, but after five Festival wins and two Nationals Tiger Roll was a special little horse, alright. He will be missed.