CHRIS Graham (@chrisgraham79) takes the reins for the Day 2 highlight as he aims to crack the Champion Chase.
Cheltenham 15:30 | Champion Chase | ITV1
I don’t know about you but I was a bit disappointed with Altior on Tuesday. I expected the Nicky Henderson charge to blitz his rivals in the Arkle Chase but it never really happened. Bring on Douvan on Wednesday…
Yeah now it’s time for jump racing’s finest animal to hit centre stage at Cheltenham. In all honestly there’s no point analysing this race to find the winner – it’s going to be Douvan.
No contest
Douvan has won all 13 races that he’s lined up in for Willie Mullins and it’s been a while since he’s been made to come out in a sweat. Winning is a breeze to him and there’s no animal in this race who should get close and at 2/7 he’s probably value.
So the aim of this piece is to find a horse to finish second to Douvan and at 11/4 in that market I’ll be backing Gods Own on Wednesday.
Glamorous? Not a bit of it. But on his day (which is more times than not) the Tom George nine year old can pick up some serious kudos. He won the Grade 1 Melling Chase at Aintree last season when hot favourite Vautour fell and then followed that up at Punchestown with a fair and square defeat of the late enigma.
Deserves respect
Gods Own’s record at Cheltenham is also worthy of respect. He finished second to Un De Sceaux in the 2015 Arkle and at last year’s Festival was fourth to Sprinter Sacre in this race.
It’s been a while since this horse ran a bad race and he’s a brilliant marker for all two mile chasers. He’ll never be remembered with awe, but he’ll certainly be respected.
Fox Norton is the only horse I can see stopping Gods Own from taking the silver medal. He is shorter in price though and was thrashed by Altior last month.
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Champion Chase – Gods Own without Douvan (11/4 10BET)
