Protektorat was nothing short of dazzling when winning this first-time out in similar conditions 12 months ago and while he was behind Bravemansgame in the Cheltenham Gold Cup last March, he has shown he’s more than capable of handling attritional conditions. I don't like making excuses, but I wasn't too worried about the run at Kelso as the ground was heavy and we always know that he needs his first run of the season. He can confuse us sometimes when it comes to identifying his fitness because he has such enthusiasm for the game that it appears he's straighter than he actually is.

This year, the Willie Mullins-trained Energumene will attempt to join that band of dual winners. His win last March completed the full set of Cheltenham’s championship races for his record-breaking trainer. The 14-time champion trainer Paul Nicholls has a fabulous record in the Betfair Chase, winning the race on six occasions. Nicholls’ record six Betfair Chase wins have come courtesy of four victories with the great Kauto Star (who won it in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011) and two wins with Silvianaco Conti (in 2012 and 2014). The Queen Mother Champion Chase takes place at 3.30pm on Wednesday March 15 and is the feature race on day two of the Cheltenham Festival. Queen Mother Champion Chase: the runner and riders The highlight of the Cheltenham Festival is the Gold Cup. All races run at Cheltenham finish with a long uphill run-in in front of the stands. The Gold Cup is a Grade 1 race, run over a distance of 3miles 2 + 1⁄ 2furlongs (5.3km). All horses carry the same weight in the Gold Cup. On numerous occasions the hill at the finish has found out the brave. Famous winners of the Gold Cup include Dawn Run (mare, ridden by Jonjo O'Neill), Arkle, Golden Miller, Best Mate, Desert Orchid& Kauto Star. The Cheltenham Foxhunter is run after the Gold Cup over the same distance and is often referred to as the amateur Gold Cup.There's more Grade 1 action in Ireland where last season's Champion Hurdle runner-up State Man will face three rivals on his seasonal reappearance in the Grade 1 Morgiana Hurdle (2.35) at Punchestown on Saturday. Once a horse has won a steeplechase, from the next season they will not be allowed to enter novice chases unless the win comes in the final two months of a season, in which case they can run novices until the end of October that year. Horses running in novice races are generally young and inexperienced in jumps, which means they can surpass or fall short of expectations.

With so many bookmakers out there to choose from, punters can take advantage of some fantastic free bets and betting offers on the horse racing. Car racing games have been a staple gaming favorite for decades. Over that time, developers have experimented with the genre and innovated to please a discerning modern audience. The Champion Chase is the acid test of speed and jumping ability for steeplechasers. Run over two miles at Cheltenham’s Old Course and with 13 fences tests to be taken, it is one of the four championship races at the Festival, along with the Champion Hurdle, Stayers’ Hurdle and Gold Cup. The latter will almost certainly strip fitter for his effort to finish second in the Charlie Hall at Wetherby earlier this month and will be a huge threat here, but he may have to settle for the runners-up berth once again - with regular partner Harry Cobden opting to head to Ascot.Won this last year with any amount in hand. Less aggressive than usual and let down by his jumping when third behind Editeur Du Gite and Edwardstone in the Clarence House. Has to rebound here.

Don’t overlook John McConnell’s Encanto Bruno either. McConnell has yet to saddle a Festival winner from 18 attempts but he is 9-28 with his other runners at Cheltenham since October 2018 and has been kept fresh for this race since thumping Strong Leader – who was best of the British in yesterday’s Supreme – in a course-and-distance bumper in October. Organised steeplechasing in Britain began with annual events being staged cross country over a number of fields, hedges and brooks, the earliest most notable of these being the St Albans Steeplechase (first run in 1830). For some years, there was no regulation of steeplechasing. The sport gained a reputation as being a bastard relation of flat-racing and consequently fell into decline. Most of the National Hunt season takes place in the winter when the softer ground makes jumping less dangerous for the horses racing. The horses are much cheaper, as the majority are geldings and have no breeding value. This makes the sport more popular as the horses are not usually retired at such a young age and thus become familiar to the racing public over a number of seasons. The first recorded race of this nature is traditionally said to have taken place between the towns of Buttevant and Doneraile in the north of County Cork in 1752. [3] The distance of the race was 4.5 miles (7.2km). The start and finish were marked by the church steeple in each town, hence the term " steeplechase". Point-to-point races, amateur steeplechases normally run on farmland, remain hugely popular in the same region and in many parts of rural Ireland and Great Britain, today. In recent years however French-bred horses have also come to the forefront with horses such as Master Minded becoming the highest rated horse in Britain after winning the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Kauto Star who won the Gold Cup in 2007, 2009 and was second in 2008 is also French bred.This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Chase Purdy – 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC . Retrieved June 23, 2018. Run over three miles and one and a half furlongs, the Betfair Chase is the opening race of the jumps ‘triple crown’, which is followed by the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park and brought to a close with the biggest prize of all, the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup. Other NH races of note include the King George VI Chase, run at Kempton Park on 26 December and the Hennessy Gold Cup run at Newbury at the end of November.