One of the highlights of the Cheltenham Festival is the Queen Mother Champion Chase. The Champion Chase is the headline event on the second day of the 2018 Cheltenham Festival and some of the emerging horses from across the world will be vying for top honours. With over 10 horses competing in this 2-mile, Grade 1 Chase, many have already picked their favourite. In no particular order, below we give you some the tipsters favourite to win.
Several bookmakers have picked Altior as the clear favourite ahead of the 2018 Queen Mother Champion Chase. Altior’s year in 2017 was nothing but spectacular as he swept up some great wins. There are particularly two factors that make backing Altior more enticing which is of course his recent form and his jockey. Altior closed off 2017 in style winning the Arkle Trophy Novices Chase by an impressive six lengths, making him the best novice of the year. With Nicky Henderson, Altior comes to the Festival with a jockey who knows what it takes to win, having won the Queen Mother Champion Chase with three different horses.
Politologue
Politologue booked his place to the Queen Mother Champion Chase in style as he comfortably won the Unibet Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton in December 2017. The win came on the back of another impressive victory in the Tingle Creek. Politologue already has some Festival experience after he finished fourth in the JLT Chase last season, and in preparation for the event, Paul Nicholls had to stop him from extreme practice racing to have him at the very best come March 14.
Douvan
Douvan took part in the 2017 Queen Mother Champion Chase, but was unable to finish the race while in seventh position after suffering a pelvis injury. Despite what looked like a serious injury, Douvan’s owner, Rich Ricci, said that the injury was small and Douvan would be back in action in no time. However, Douvan was to sit out for most of 2017’s races, only returning in the last couple of months. A few online sources still has Douvan ranking higher than Altior despite his absence in 2017’s races. However, bookmakers think that lack of fitness may ultimately work against Douvan, thus he has slightly higher odds than Altior.
Min
Min is another good runner that saw some absenteeism in 2017. However, Min’s case was not as a result of a serious injury, but rather unfortunate small injuries that occurred from time to time. After returning to full fitness in December last year, Min has shown that he is a force to be reckoned with as he won all of his Grade 1 races (2) including one at the Leopardstown on Boxing Day.
Special Tiara
Special Tiara is the current Queen Mother Champion Chase champion after great exploits in last year’s competition under Noel Fehily for trainer Henry Du Bromhead. In a race that has hardly been dominated by one single horse, history will definitely be against Special Tiara. However, if she can use the experience of 2017, then there is a chance she may become the first to successfully defend the Queen Mother Champion Chase title.
Charbel
Charbel is an outsider for the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Charbel’s experience in 2017 was a bit indifferent. Though he did not bag any wins, he finished in respectable positions in all of his races. Coming to Cheltenham, Charbel will have to do one thing he failed in the whole of 2017 if he is to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase, and that is to finish in front of Altior.
