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‘He was foot-perfect’: Energumene proves unstoppable with back-to-back wins in the Queen Mother Champion Chase

Gemma Redrup Gemma Redrup

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    • The Queen Mother Champion Chase result proved to be a rout for Energumene, as he never came off the bridle to win the race by 10 lengths at the Cheltenham Festival today (15 March).

    “He was foot-perfect everywhere – he got into a rhythm and jumped brilliantly,” said his jockey Paul Townend. “I let go of him up the straight and was able to take it all in from the back of the last. All credit to Imran who rides and looks after him every day.”

    The nine-year-old, who is trained by Willie Mullins and owned by Tony Bloom, travelled and jumped well to win the race for a second year in a row.

    “He was spot on today and we got the ground,” said Willie, whose stable is retaining its reputation as a force to be reckoned with this week.

    “We were confident going into this race and he has run tremendously – the rain gave us extra confidence,” said Tony.

    Edwardstone, who has shown plenty of promise in the past and went off second favourite today, proved disappointing.

    “He normally warms up into the race well, but that didn’t happen today,” said Edwardstone’s jockey, Tom Cannon.

    Captain Guinness ran a brilliant race at odds of 10/1 to finish second under Rachael Blackmore for trainer Henry de Bromhead and owner Declan Landy.

    “That was a great result for him today after hitting the crossbar a few times,” said Rachael.

    British hopeful Greaneteen, who is owned by Chris Giles, finished third in the Champion Chase result under Harry Cobden for trainer Paul Nicholls.

    “He plugged on well, just making a bad mistake at the ditch,” said Harry.

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    Gemma Redrup
    Gemma Redrup

    H&H features, racing and point-to-point editor
    Gemma is an experienced journalist, having been part of the H&H team since 2014, who is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at in August 2018. Gemma’s reporting talents have taken her to numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.
    Gemma Redrup

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