Timeform's 2021/22 jumps season recap | The Chasers

Staying chasers

Henry de Bromhead once again saddled the first two in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, but the principals from 2021 finished the other way round this time and A Plus Tard (Timeform rating c178) was a much more decisive winner than Minella Indo (c165+) had been when beating him the year before, storming up the run-in to a 15-length success while his stablemate finished rather tamely.

Although placed earlier in the season in the Champion Chase at Down Royal and the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown, Minella Indo has struggled for consistency since his Gold Cup victory, whereas A Plus Tard proved better than ever, not just at Cheltenham but also when beating an admittedly mixed bag of rivals by a still wider margin, 22 lengths, in the Betfair Chase at Haydock.

Between then and the Gold Cup, A Plus Tard suffered an odds-on reverse in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown where Galvin (c164) dug deep into his stamina reserves to get the verdict by a short head. That was Galvin’s seventh win from his last eight starts (Frodon (c163) beat him in the Champion Chase at Down Royal), but subsequent events showed that result flattered him somewhat as he could finish only a remote fourth behind A Plus Tard at Cheltenham.

Aintree’s Many Clouds Chase winner Protektorat (c164), only a seven-year-old, fared best of the British to take third in the Gold Cup but found Aintree coming too soon afterwards. After his customary successful return at Tramore on New Year’s Day, Al Boum Photo (c166) could finish only sixth in cheekpieces in another bid to win his third Cheltenham Gold Cup and, while he was back to his best when third in the Punchestown Gold Cup next time, just ahead of stablemate Kemboy (c166x), he was retired after being pulled up in the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris at Auteuil.

They were among five runners for Willie Mullins in a terrific renewal of the Punchestown Gold Cup which was won by their stablemate Allaho (c179) with a performance that, at the very least, matched A Plus Tard’s effort at Cheltenham. Allaho was typically unrelenting from the front, though broke new ground in winning for the first time over three miles over fences which could open up more opportunities for him this season.

He came home 14 lengths clear of the previous year’s winner Clan des Obeaux (c168), who had returned to form in a change of headgear (blinkers replacing cheekpieces) to win the Bowl Chase at Aintree for the second year running on his previous start.

Allaho had won all three of his races at around two and a half miles earlier in the campaign, notably the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase and when giving a repeat performance of his impressive display the year before in the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham.

Fakir d’Oudairies (c166) finished behind Allaho on three occasions in Ireland but, as well as winning the Melling Chase at Aintree for the second year, he gained another Grade 1 success in Britain beforehand in the Ascot Chase.

The King George VI Chase also went to Ireland as Tornado Flyer (c163) ran the race of his life to beat former dual winner Clan des Obeaux, while an outsider also won the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown in the shape of Conflated (c166), later a faller in the Ryanair and runner-up in the Bowl at Aintree.

Also worth noting was a top-class effort from Bobbyjo Chase winner Any Second Now (c166), who went one better than the year before when runner-up under a big weight in the Grand National.

Two-mile chasers

Both unbeaten as novices the previous season, Shishkin (c181) and Energumene (c180) proved outstanding recruits to the two-mile chasing scene for Nicky Henderson and Willie Mullins respectively.

The latter had missed the Sporting Life Arkle, won by Shishkin, in 2020/21 but the pair clashed twice last season with very different results. Having won the Desert Orchid Chase on his return at Kempton, Shishkin made it 10 wins in a row when getting the better of Energumene by a length in a tremendous Clarence House Chase at Ascot after the runner-up, who’d gone with zest from the front and was still two lengths up at the last, was only worn down close home.

The rematch in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham proved a big let-down, however, with Shishkin struggling from the word go and pulled up after the eighth while Energumene, patiently ridden this time, landed the spoils. Shishkin’s connections initially blamed the softening ground on a thoroughly wet second day of the Festival, but a rare bone condition later came to light which ruled Shishkin out for the rest of the season.

Meanwhile, Energumene, who’d won the Hilly Way Chase at Cork prior to Ascot, put up another top-notch performance to beat top-class stablemate and previous year’s winner Chacun Pour Soi (c174) in the Champion Chase at Punchestown. The latter added to the drama in the Queen Mother Champion Chase when unseating at Cheltenham in what was a rare jumping lapse, but he’d been faultless in that department when winning the Dublin Chase at Leopardstown for the third year running. This trio were much the best in the two-mile division.

Greaneteen (c166) took advantage of Shishkin’s delayed return, and an out-of-sorts Chacun Pour Soi, to win the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown and returned there to win the Celebration Chase at the end of the season. In between he was no match for Shishkin at Kempton and ran poorly in the Dublin Chase.

Like the Shloer Chase winner Nube Negra (c164), Greanteen was missing from the Queen Mother Champion Chase field in which 40/1 shot Funambule Sivola (c162), winner of the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury beforehand, took the runner-up spot behind Energumene.

The 2021 Clarence House winner First Flow (c163) was no match for the big two in the latest renewal, though had earlier beaten Funambule Sivola when stepped up in trip for the Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon.

Former star novice Envoi Allen (c161) had his limitations exposed, at least over two miles (he looks well worth another try over further), not fully convincing in beating two rivals in the Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase at Leopardstown before finishing third in the Champion Chases at both Cheltenham and Punchestown.

Novice chasers

Mullins had another strong crop of novice chasers with no more exciting prospect among them than Galopin des Champs (c175p). He was unlucky not to be unbeaten, looking to have the Turners Novices' Chase at Cheltenham in safe keeping when coming down at the last and handing victory to Bob Olinger (c161?).

Galopin des Champs was hard to fault otherwise, impressing with Grade 1 victories at Leopardstown and Fairyhouse either side of Cheltenham with Master McShee (c159), a Grade 1 winner at Limerick himself in December, chasing him home both times. Raced only at around two and a half miles over fences, Galopin des Champs could go up or down in trip, but he’s already on the verge of being Gold Cup standard.

Former Ballymore winner Bob Olinger’s campaign began very promisingly but unravelled quickly, unimpressive when gifted the race at Cheltenham and looking a horse with problems when pulled up at Punchestown.

Ferny Hollow (c166+) and Gentleman de Mee (c164p) were Mullins’ other top novices, though Ferny Hollow had another interrupted season which ended in December with victory in the Racing Post Novice Chase at Leopardstown.

Gentleman de Mee won his last three starts, culminating with upsetting the odds-on Edwardstone (c161) in the Maghull Novices’ Chase at Aintree. The likeable Edwardstone was the top two-mile novice in Britain, winning his five other completed outings, notably the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase at Sandown and the Arkle at Cheltenham where he had another Mullins novice, Blue Lord (c158), back in third.

That was Blue Lord’s only defeat in five chases when proving a bit too keen and came between Grade 1 wins in the Irish Arkle at Leopardstown and the Barberstown Castle Novice Chase at Punchestown.

Over longer trips, there was little to choose between three of the best novices in Britain with L’Homme Presse (c162p) rated marginally the best of them. He progressed to win his first five chases, culminating in victory in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham when stepping up to three miles for the first time to beat Ahoy Senor (c161p).

It was a different story when the pair met again on less testing ground in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Aintree where Ahoy Senor jumped better than at Cheltenham and ran out a convincing winner from Fury Road (c156, a Grade 1 winner at Leopardstown in December) and a below-par L’Homme Presse.

However, it was the fourth runner in the Mildmay, Bravemansgame (c159), who was sent off favourite having been pulled out at Cheltenham when the ground turned soft. He clearly wasn’t himself when last at Aintree but had been unbeaten in four starts over fences beforehand, notably when showing too much speed for Ahoy Senor in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton.

Stattler (c160p), another for Mullins, won all three of his chases, notably the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham, while the novice ranks also included Grand National winner Noble Yeats (c156), the first seven-year-old to win the race since 1940 and who’d earlier finished runner-up to Ahoy Senor in the Towton Novices’ Chase at Wetherby.

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