With the entries through for the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase John Ingles, Ben Linfoot and David Ord answer four key questions.
Who deserves to be favourite for the Champion Chase right now – Marine Nationale or Il Etait Temps?
David Ord: I’m very much an Il Etait Temps man. Now the case for the prosecution is that he’s twice come up short when fancied at two previous Cheltenham Festivals, finishing fourth in the 2023 Sky Bet Supreme and third behind Gaelic Warrior in the following year’s Arkle. He didn’t jump well on ether occasion, but I’m not convinced the track is a major concern for him and he looks a very different horse nowadays anyway. To put it simply in both the Celebration Chase and Betfair Tingle Creek at Sandown he’s produced performances right out of the top drawer and looked the best two-mile chaser around. Marine Nationale is seven pounds below him on Timeform ratings and while Barry Connell is talking the talk, he won a Champion Chase that fell apart last season and will need to go higher than he ever has before if his market rival is on his A Game.
John Ingles: Based on form it would have to be Il Etait Temps who has won all five of his starts since the 2024 Arkle and looked better than ever when impressive in the Tingle Creek last time. Marine Nationale might have given a bigger beating to Jonbon in last year’s Champion Chase, but Jonbon wasn’t anywhere near his best that day and even if Marine Nationale had excuses for his defeat at Leopardstown last time, he has more to do to retain his Cheltenham title against a top-form Il Etait Temps.
Ben Linfoot: Il Etait Temps would be top of my board as well as I think he’s progressed past Marine Nationale this season. Yes, he has to prove himself at Cheltenham whereas Marine Nationale is twice a Festival winner, but I see no reason why he won’t be able to bring his A-game to Prestbury Park. Indeed, he did well to finish third in the 2024 Arkle from his position behind Gaelic Warrior and he’s a miles better horse now. He’s the standard-setter in the division for me.
Of last year’s Arkle pair, Majborough and L’Eau Du Sud, who is more likely to come up to scratch in a Champion Chase?
JI: L’Eau du Sud has the best part of twenty lengths to make up on Il Etait Temps from the Tingle Creek when admittedly not in the same form as he was when winning the Shloer Chase, but that’s not the first time he has come up short in Grade 1 company. He is at least a sound jumper though, which can’t be said of Majborough who was just in front of L’Eau du Sud in the Arkle despite his jumping going to pot late on. Majborough has the more potential of the pair to make an impact in a Champion Chase, but he needs to brush up his jumping as well as settle better than he did last time too.
DO: Majborough has the raw ability to do so but he doesn’t jump like a Champion Chaser and there’s been little evidence in his two starts this term that the penny is starting to drop. In a match I’d prefer the silky fencing skills of a fresh L’Eau Du Sud but watch the Tingle Creek and try to work out how he’ll beat Il Etait Temps. I can’t.
BL: Like Dave I’ve not been convinced by Majborough’s jumping to think he can cut it over two miles in a championship race. So I’m also team L’Eau Du Sud out of this pair and I actually think he’s more of a danger than his odds of around 16/1 suggest. Yes, he was spanked by Il Etait Temps at Sandown, but he wasn’t at his best that day after his Shloer Chase win took the edge off him and fresh as paint he’ll be a danger to all after three months off.
What do you make of Sir Gino’s entry – is there any chance he might turn up in this race?
BL: It would be very un-Henderson-like for Sir Gino to run in the Champion Chase. I couldn’t imagine him going there off the back of a hurdles run and I doubt he’d have time to fit in a chasing prep if something went wrong over hurdles on Trials Day, if, indeed, he turns up over hurdles on Trials Day. It looks an ultra-safety net job, but it would take a particularly freaky set of circumstances, the sort of which even Dave Ord couldn't dream up, for us to see him in this race.
DO: He might. Say he does roll into Cheltenham on Trials Day for the International and gets spanked by The New Lion. Would that force a switch? Anzadam settles like a lamb in the Irish Champion and bounds clear of Lossiemouth and Brighterdaysahead. Would that force a switch? Constitution Hill doesn’t fancy going into a set of starting stalls but jumps round safely and runs away with the Kingwell. The fire still burns. Would that force a switch? Now I realise I’m getting into the realms of fantasy here but they’re the only way Sir Gino re-routes. And the most likely scenario of those three is The New Lion denting his reputation. But I’m not convinced Hendo will go to Trials Day with the Champion Hurdle favourite. If he doesn’t – he won’t run here.
JI: He’d add intrigue to the field for sure, but he lacks experience with just the one run over fences to date and in the absence of his owners’ State Man he’s surely more likely to do duty in the Champion Hurdle at this stage.
Give us another name not so far mentioned who is on your radar for the Champion Chase?
JI: The obvious answer is Thistle Ask who has been a revelation since joining Dan Skelton this season, really impressing with the way he went round Kempton in the Desert Orchid last time. There are questions about whether he’d be as effective at Cheltenham, but his trainer is unlikely to pass up the chance to at least try for the Champion Chase should he win, or go close in, the Clarence House Chase later this month.
BL: Who knows where Thistle Ask’s limit is? Perhaps we’ll find out in the Clarence House at Ascot later in the month but if he wins that as well the clamour for him to run in the Champion Chase will grow louder, even if he might not be quite as happy racing anti-clockwise at Cheltenham. You’ve always got to take note of Henry de Bromhead in this race as he gets his two-milers jumping so well and his Quilixios ran a blinder in it last year when falling at the last, even if he would’ve been beaten by Marine Nationale in any case. He missed Christmas, but his entry tells you he’s still on track and he's got a good record fresh.
DO: Let’s be honest we’re struggling. Solness is better at Leopardstown, Thistle Ask is thriving but seems to want to go right-handed. We haven’t seen Quilixios since he fell at the last in this race in 2025 when booked for second. Jonbon, we have to mention Jonbon, but he hasn’t been able to win the blue riband while at the peak of his powers and defeats at Cheltenham and Sandown this season suggest he may no longer be and might need further too. The same comment applies to Kalif Du Berlais who if the weather gods play ball might go up in trip for the Silviniaco Conti at Kempton on Saturday. But he was very good in the Maghull at Aintree in the spring, with L’Eau Du Sud five-and-and-a-half lengths away in third and a line can be drawn through his Exeter return. He has a mountain to climb on ratings but is one of the very few in this field who is open to some improvement.
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