King and Edward to rule the roost in Queen Mother

By Ed Culham

THERE might only be seven runners in this year’s Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase (3.30pm), but it’s a race that’s deep in quality.

And while we might not have a horse of the calibre of Sprinter Sacre or Moscow Flyer in here, the fact we don’t almost makes it a more intriguing puzzle to solve.

The key piece of form when trying to break it down looks to be the rescheduled Clarence House Chase which was restaged at Cheltenham after the cold snap forced the fixture at Ascot to be abandoned.

That race was won by EDITEUR DU GITE and, while he probably needs to step up again to take this, that certainly isn’t out of the question.

Gary Moore’s nine-year-old is one of those horses that always seems to punch above his weight and rarely runs a bad race.

His win in the Clarence House was evidence of such as he looked to have plenty to find on ratings with the others in the field but jumped brilliantly from the front and showed tremendous courage on the run-in when challenged.

One could argue that the New Course, which that race was run on, might suit him better, but he won a handicap on the Old Course in 2021, so I’m not too worried.

I can see him running really well again at 11/2 with William Hill.

He was narrowly touched off EDWARDSTONE in the Clarence House and I fancy the pair to battle it out again, though I do feel Alan King’s charge might have the edge this time.

Many crabbed the quality of the form of his Arkle win last year, but he showed that it had plenty of substance when a really impressive nine-length winner of the Tingle Creek in December.

He uncharacteristically unseated jockey Tom Cannon in the Desert Orchid at Kempton over Christmas subsequently, but showed no ill effects when running so well in the aforementioned Clarence House last time.

Cannon will have learnt plenty from that run as he followed Energumene and Paul Townend throughout, which gave Editeur Du Gite a little too much rope – a factor that probably cost Cannon the race.

Considering how far back Edwardstone was jumping the second last, he did incredibly well to be only beaten a head.

Cannon certainly won’t allow Niall Houlihan as much freedom out in front this time and his mount looks the one to beat at 6/4 with William Hill.

Energumene is certainly a player and if he can reproduce the form of his win in this last year, he’d have a real chance.

However, he was beaten fair and square at Cheltenham last time and I still have reservations about him when he takes on top-quality opposition, as he’s done most of his winning in much less competitive contests than this.

The rain that has fallen is definitely in his favour and it’s always very dangerous to write off a horse trained by Willie Mullins, but his inmate looks short enough at 7/4.

I could see FUNAMBULE SIVOLA running a big race at around 50/1.

Venetia Williams’ contender was a good winner of the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury last time and was also second to Energumene in this contest 12 months ago.

He’ll be ridden to pick up the pieces and there’s the potential for this race to fall into the lap of closers given the pace Editeur Du Gite will go out in front.

Horses at big prices can often sneak into a place in these big Grade Ones and I’d much prefer to back him at 50/1 – on the back of a near-career best last time – than Energumene, who is on somewhat of a recovery mission.

The mount of Charlie Deutsch certainly isn’t a no-hoper in this and, as we’ve seen in the past, the combination of Williams and Deutsch aren’t perturbed by taking on horses that are far superior to them in ratings.

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