BEST FOR TIPS

Find out who our experts are backing on Champion Chase day

hspanish-bred

John looks value alternative to mighty Monkfish

Willie Mullins has won everything worth winning at the Cheltenham Festival, with one glaring exception: the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

This time three years ago, the Gold Cup was his bogey race, but he is now on the brink of winning it for a third time with Al Boum Photo.

One imagines he will be disappointed if Chacun Pour Soi, today’s red-hot favourite for the Betwaysponsored two-mile contest, does not get the one remaining monkey off his back, but this fascinating race may not be quite the cakewalk the cramped odds about the Rich Ricciowned nine-year-old suggest.

It may be without its fading star Altior, a last-minute absentee for a second year, but at least it has Politologue back to defend his title. For a long time, Paul Nicholls’s grey appeared to fall between the two stools of not being fast enough for two miles and not having the stamina for two miles and five furlongs.

Last year he got around that by setting his own furious pace, capitalising on some great jumping, and making it a two-mile test of stamina instead of speed.

If there is to be a surprise winner it would be First Flow, who, at Ascot last time, out-politologued Politologue, taking him on over a mile out and appearing to crack the champion. He is unbeaten in six starts, although trainer Kim Bailey has sought to manage expectation by questioning the nine-year-old’s record at the meeting – he was over the top when he ran in the Supreme – and his ability to act at his best going left-handed. Nevertheless, he can be a major player.

Then there is Henry de Bromhead’s mare Put The Kettle On, last year’s Arkle winner, who is unbeaten in three starts at Cheltenham under Aidan Coleman. She gets a 7lb mares’ allowance and should not be ignored as she was when triumphing here last year at 16-1.

So, what chinks might there be in Chacun Pour Soi’s armour? One is that he has never raced at Cheltenham,

although there is no good reason why he should not handle it, and another is that in beating top Irish opposition away from Cheltenham, he is slightly overrated.

This season, more than any other, there has been very little match-up between the Irish and British form and it may be that in Nube Negra, the improving form horse is based this side of the Irish Sea.

Spanish-bred horses are not twoa-penny at Cheltenham this or any other year, but Dan Skelton’s chaser burst on to the two-mile scene when beating Altior at Kempton over Christmas. He did not just beat him, the writing was on the wall all the way up the straight.

A bit like Victor Kiam, who liked Remington razors so much he bought the company, perhaps the

biggest advert for Nube Negra is that the Skeltons have bought his sire, Dink, to stand at stud.

However, the only evidence we have that Nube Negra is in this league is that one Kempton race and, to a certain extent, when Dan Skelton turns his card over today, even he may not be sure whether he will see an ace to trump everything or an also-ran jack.

The trainer’s enthusiasm for Nube Negra, well, for everything really, is infectious. “We’re very happy with him,” he said yesterday. “He looks fantastic, he’s fresh, which is how we want him. It forecast a dry night, I don’t see a problem with the course, there are no negatives. I have a lot of respect for Chacun Pour Soi, but we could be the one on the big upgrade.”

It would

Cracker: Nube Negra and Harry Skelton race clear at Kempton’s Christmas meeting; the pair can foil Willie Mullins (below)

certainly do the meeting no harm were 10-horse Exmoor-based permit holder Nicky Martin to win the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle with the unbeaten Bear Ghylls. The trip and stiff course look like they will suit him, although he faces stiff competition from De Bromhead’s Bob Olinger and Nicholls’s Bravemansgame.

Whatever happens in the Champion Chase, Mullins should already be on the score sheet for the day with the imperious-looking Monkfish in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase. Indeed, on the evidence of what we have already seen, he might even be a short-priced favourite for next year’s Gold Cup by the end of the afternoon.

However, for those who have an aversion to odds-on shots, Sporting John offers a sporting alternative. He has not been without his problems, but was unbeaten over hurdles until the Ballymore a year ago. His chasing debut at Exeter was a disaster, too, but he returned to winning ways last time at Sandown, staying on well up the hill.

He lacks a little experience but the small field should help that, and if Monkfish and The Big Breakaway get into a protracted duel a long way out, Richard Johnson and Sporting John could pick up the pieces as they did at Sandown.

Monkfish may be about to become a legend, but in two-time Grand National winner Tiger Roll we have a genuine legend going for his third Glenfarclas Chase. Having been ruled out of the National, this may be his British swansong.

On this season’s evidence, however, it is hard to see him bowing out in a blaze of glory, but if anywhere is likely to re-kindle the old flame, it is Cheltenham’s crosscountry course.