Cheltenham: Home favourite Shishkin chasing third festival victory

Perhaps it’s just as well Shishkin isn’t aware of what’s riding on him in Wednesday’s Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham.

Nico de Boinville is literally riding him but figuratively there’s a lot more on his back than just the jockey.

For one thing he has a shot at winning at the festival for a third year in a row. For another, victory will see his trainer eclipse both Paul Nicholls and the legendary Tom Dreaper with a record seventh success in the two-mile championship. There’s the not insignificant fact of being an odds-on favourite too.

On top of everything else there is a less tangible but still prevailing sense of morale being at stake.

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Shishkin is a rare championship favourite for a home side that has been under the cosh in the races that ultimately decide the ultimate pecking order.

All that Day 1 success will encourage cross-channel faith of a change in momentum.

Even the most green-eyed can acknowledge that the English star is a rare talent and very much the one to beat in a Cheltenham highlight that for once has Irish hopes battling the odds.

It only adds to the sense of anticipation surrounding the day two feature that there's never been anyone better on the festival trigger than Willie Mullins, although hitting the Champion Chase bullseye has proved beyond him over the years.

He has thrown everything at it, from a beaten 2-9 favourite in Douvan to a last throw of the dice with Florida Parl in 2003. Un De Sceaux (2016) and Min (2018) both found one too good for them.

It is the single glaring omission from the champion trainer’s CV and ordinarily a two-pronged attack by Energumene and Chacun Pour Soi would look to cover most bases.

The complicating factor is how Shishkin looks to be one of those rare talents that simply refuse to be beaten. In a dozen career starts the only one to beat him has been himself when falling in his first hurdle race.

Since then he has overcome dire luck in running to land the Supreme at the 2020 festival and shown his overwhelming class with a smooth Arkle victory last year when an Irish passport appeared almost obligatory to enter the winner’s enclosure.

That happy refusal to accept defeat was underlined with a vengeance in Shiskhkin’s much hyped Clarence House clash with Energumene at Ascot in January.

Energumene did pretty much everything right and still got beat. Shishkin made mistakes, jumped left and looked in real trouble, right up to the point of getting his head in front on the line.

Proven around Cheltenham on better ground, and apparently better suited to going left-handed too, it’s hard to make a cogent argument that, all things being equal, the English star can be defeated by Energumene this time.

Excuse

Chacun Pour Soi’s best might be enough to upset the applecart but two sub-par cross-channel races suggest a home-bird not in love with travelling.

Admittedly there was a physical excuse for a dire Tingle Creek effort in December. But nothing at all emerged to explain why he failed to land the odds in this race a year ago.

Maybe an unusually lack-lustre early tempo for the two mile crown contributed to Chacun Pour Soi cutting out so badly but it’s a bit of a reach.

He didn’t have bad luck in running, looked to be in a good position turning in, and ultimately found disappointingly little up the hill behind Put The Kettle On.

Mullins is adopting a ‘less is more’ policy to his preparation this time but compared to Shishkin’s case-iron credentials it hardly makes for a convincing case.

Put The Kettle On is back to defend her title and a record of just one defeat in five starts around Cheltenham, as well as the addition of first-time cheek-pieces, means only the reckless will entirely dismiss her chance.

That her stable companion Envoi Allen is lining up at 25-1 for a Champion Chase will stun anyone emerging from a year long stay in a cave considering his massive reputation this time a year ago.

Nube Negra was a slightly unlucky runner up last year and his ‘pounce’ style lends itself to picking up crumbs.

But ultimately it’s hard not to pitch the race as one where everything is waiting for such crumbs to fall from the Shishkin table.

And so far not nearly enough have ever been dropped to make a good case for getting the better of him.