Grade 1 action on Saturday comes from Down Royal as the track on the outskirts of Belfast stages its biggest race of the year, the Champion Chase.
It is a race won by some greats of the game, including dual winners Beef Or Salmon and Kauto Star, as well as the likes of Florida Pearl, Don Cossack and Frodon.
Envoi Allen won in 2022 and was pipped last year by Gerri Colombe and they are both back to spearhead a five-runner field this time around.
We’ve got a tip for the big race and the main supporting event on a cracking Down Royal card.
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Selections
- 2.40 Down Royal – Gerri Colombe
- 3.20 Down Royal – Found A Fifty
2.40 Down Royal – Gerri Colombe
It is an unoriginal choice but it certainly isn’t hard to envisage Gerri Colombe emulating Road To Respect in 2018 and 2019 as the only horse to win this race in successive years.
Beef Or Salmon won successive renewals, but the Foot and Mouth crisis split them, while Kauto Star was 2-2 in the race but skipped a trip to Ireland in 2009 either side of his wins.
The market here sees Gerri Colombe ahead of former winner Envoi Allen and the King George hero Hewick, with veteran Delta Work – stablemate of the favourite – and Gavin Cromwell’s Visionarian up against it on paper.
Last year Gerri Colombe had to work extremely hard to get up and collar Envoi Allen and Conflated in the dying strides.
They went at a steady pace, with Conflated making the running and the stamina test was only just severe enough for Jack Kennedy to claim the spoils.
Sam Ewing is on board Gerri Colombe now and, after finishing second to Galopin Des Champs at Cheltenham and then winning the Aintree Bowl in the spring with a decent field behind him, he is the standout candidate.
He is the youngest horse in the line-up and is 4-4 on seasonal reappearance. He should prove very hard to topple.
3.20 Down Royal – Found A Fifty
The Gordon Elliott/Ewing partnership could be in for a big afternoon as Found A Fifty will be a warm order to win the Grade 2 Bottlegreen Ladies Day 2024 Chase immediately after the feature race.
The Bective Stud-owned seven-year-old was never out of the first two in six runs as a novice chaser last season.
He won a Leopardstown Grade 1 at Christmas, then finished second behind Il Etait Temps at the Dublin Racing Festival and the irrepressible Gaelic Warrior in the Arkle at Cheltenham.
He showed guts and determination at Aintree to win the Maghull Novices’ Chase at Aintree, pulling it out of the fire after Master Chewy had attempted to take the prize away.
Like his stablemate, his record when fresh is excellent, including a dominant beginners’ chase win over C&D at this meeting 12 months ago. It may well be more of the same now.
*all odds correct at time of writing and subject to change
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