Nube Negra can put Chacun in shade

NUBE Negra can cause a minor surprise in the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase tomorrow.

Backing against Chacun Pour Soi may prove folly, of course, but as yet the big-race favourite still needs to prove his appetite for the Cheltenham hill.

While Willie Mullins’ hotpot has been beaten just once in Ireland since his move from France in 2016, in all that time we have only seen him in action seven times.

Nevertheless, as a nine-year-old he should be at his peak now – although there is obviously a fragility about him, which reared its head 12 months ago when he was ruled out on the morning of the race.

What gives hope for those taking him on is the fact he was outstayed by A Plus Tard in December 2019, his sole defeat for Mullins, and if he is off the bridle before the last his supporters may know their fate.

Nube Negra is the unknown quantity really. If he is as good as he looked when beating Altior at Kempton then his odds are very big indeed – and while the general consensus seemed to be that Altior was not fit, that theory does not hold water.

Nube Negra had been off the exact same amount, and Dan Skelton’s seven-year-old is surely on the up.

The opening Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle looks at the mercy of Henry de Bromhead’s Bob Olinger.

A 10-length bumper winner this time last year, he was already in plenty of notebooks and then went into just about every other one following his hurdling debut at Gowran in November.

Racing over two miles, he made Champion Bumper winner Ferny Hollow pull out all the stops.

Bob Olinger has since won twice, including a Grade One.

While the likes of Bravemansgame and Gaillard Du Mesnil are Grade One winners in their own right, Bob Olinger just seems to have that something extra.

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