2012 Queen Mother Champion Chase Form Guide
The build up to the Queen Mother Champion Chase this year is likely to be as exciting as ever with all the top horses jockeying for position in the odds. All eyes will be on Sizing Europe who won the race so well last season for Henry de Bromhead, we will be following his progress towards Cheltenham with particular excitement. There are a number of key trial races for the Champion Chase like the Victor Chandler Chase and the Tingle Creek, they are likely to give us plenty of clues ahead of the big race itself and will be featured here.
Other runners to keep an eye out for over the next few months include Captain Chris who won the Arkle Chase at the Cheltenham Festival last season. The winner of the Arkle has a great record in the Champion Chase over the past few years and he looks like a classy sort who could continue that trend in 2012.
Champion Chase Form Guide 2012
Sizing Europe opened up his season with a comfortable win in the Pricewaterhousecoopers Champion Chase at Gowran Park as he set about the defence of Champion Chase title from last season. He followed that up with a decent second place finish in the JNWine Champion Chase as connections continue to toy with the idea of sending him over the further trip, he ran well though and still looks a top class type.
Following that run from Sizing Europe connections dropped him back to two miles for the Tingle Creek Chase and he duly hacked up to see his Champion Chase price slashed. That day he held off a decent run from the young Kauto Stone to take the win and he has to be the one to beat come the Cheltenham Festival.
2010 Champion Chase Big Zeb made his seasonal debut in the Fortria Chase at Navan and won well as he stayed on up the hill to enhance his Queen Mother claims for 2012. The Colm Murphy trained horse may be past his best but he remains a class act as he showed when holding off the excellent Noble Prince and Forpadydeplasterer and he should not be ruled out. The same three horses met each other over Christmas in the Dial-A-Bet Chase and it was an identical outcome with big Zeb claiming the win ahead of Noble Prince and Forpadydeplasterer.
Nicky Henderson has also managed to get a run into Champion chase prospect Finians Rainbow at Kempton over Christmas. The Arkle runner-up from last season made a massive mistake at one fence and looked out of it but managed to pip Wishfull Thinking on the line to get his season off to a positive start. He was given a brilliant ride from Barry Geraghty that day and looks to be full of class if he can get his jumping right at Cheltenham. The Nicky Henderson horse followed that up with a decent second place in the Victor Chandler Chase behind Somersby. Finians Rainbow travelled well at Ascot but was out sprinted by Somersby to see hs price drift slightly in the Champion chase betting.
