The Cheltenham Festival is fast approaching and we are about to enter the most exciting period of the jump racing season. Day Two of the festival hosts the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the leading minimum-distance chase on the National Hunt calendar. The highlight of Ladies’ Day sets off at 4:00 pm.
Inaugurated in 1959, the Champion Chase is one of the oldest races of the festival. As such, it has remained untouched through the changes at Cheltenham this season. Jonbon is bidding to break his festival duck but faces a big challenge with the likes of Energumene and Solness hoping to play spoiler.
Queen Mother Champion Chase Preview
Ran over 1m7f, the Queen Mother Champion Chase is the leading minimum-distance chase in the National Hunt calendar. It is one of the most exciting of the Cheltenham Festival. The 2025 renewal promises to deliver more excitement than last year, with the number of runners expected to rise from six in 2024. Two previous winners are among the entrants alongside several Grade One stars.
Jonbon enters the race as the favourite, starring for Nicky Henderson’s stable. He has 12 wins from 14 starts, including three from three in Grade One’s this season. The nine-year-old was pulled from this race last season but is fit and ready for this renewal. He is the only entrant to boast a win at Cheltenham this season.
Marine Nationale is Barry Connell’s leading charge in this race. He’s had a funny couple of years since winning the Novices’ Hurdle in 2023 with his novice chase campaign cut short after just two runs with a tendon injury. He reappeared this season with a disappointing second-place finish in a five-wide field as an odds-on favourite at Naas. He followed this up with two strong Grade One chase place finishes.
Marine Nationale has twice fallen short of Solness at Leopardstown in his two previous runs, who leads the betting for Joseph Patrick O’Brien’s stable. JP O’Brien’s recent charge has been a surprise package, bounding home at some big prices. He defeated several Champion Chase entrants in the Dublin Chase in early February after winning unchallenged in an excellent run in the Paddy Power Rewards Chase at 28/1.
Energumene leads the way for Willie Mullins’ stable, but his form has been unconvincing so far. He was no match for Jonbon in a Grade One in January, finishing 6½L behind the Champion Chase favourite. A 593-day break may have hindered rather than helped his chances in this race.
Of the rest of the runners, Found A Fifty had a decent season, winning a pair of Grade Two races in front of Solness and last year’s Champion Chase winner Captain Guinness. He was found to have a slight bilateral nasal discharge post-race when pulled up in the Paddy Power Rewards Chase, so that can be forgiven.
Queen Mother Champion Chase Predictions
Winner: Jonbon
This is a tentative pick for Nicky Henderson’s sole entry, despite his position as an odds-on favourite. Betting against Jonbon may seem like a death wish given his form this season, but his Cheltenham Festival record precedes him. All three of his defeats have come at this track. He was bested by El Fabiolo in the Arkle in 2023 and Constitution Hill in the 2022 Novices’ Hurdle. He broke his Cheltenham duck in November, but that was against a far weaker field than this one.
The favourite has only won this race once in the previous five renewals and three times in the last ten. Make no mistake that Jonbon is a Rolls Royce of a horse on his day, but those days have never come at the festival. However, it gets tricky trying to pick out who upsets him, should we see the favourite fall to defeat in the Champion Chase once again.
Solness deserves far more respect than he has got. JP O’Brien’s leading charge has probably been the most progressive entry in this race this season. Front runners have a history of upsetting in this contest and the dual Grade One winner won’t fear the pace. However, he finished 25L behind Jonbon in December, albeit on soft ground.
Energumene would need softer ground to have a real chance here. That seems unlikely at this point. Of those major contenders, Solness is our best pick to upset the favourite. However, Jonbon has been unstoppable this season and he edges it for us in the Champion Chase.
Queen Mother Champion Chase Betting Tips
The play here is a bet on Solness. We have only seen six odds-on winners in the 65-year history of this race, and Jonbon’s history on this course works against him. The ground will suit Solness better than it did when he last faced the favourite at Sandown. He is available at a big 9/1 price in the horse racing betting and as more entries opt for the Ryanair, we could potentially see that halved by the time the race goes off.
Jonbon is priced at 10/11 and there is still some room for money to be made. He may move further out by the time the race is confirmed. If you are betting on the Creek Chase winner, it would be better to cash in sooner rather than later.
Found A Fifty has had a respectful season and we can see him sneaking into the places here. He was second behind Gaelic Warrior in the Arkle last year and has been progressive this season, while Gaelic Warrior has fallen off. Keeping him away from Grade One races so far may have been a masterstroke. The ground will be there for him and we like an each-way bet on Gordon Elliott’s sole entry in the Champion Chase.
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