2022 Queen Mother Champion Chase

[Ray]

I saw on itv that someone out there had 380 bags on energumene today! Thats unlucky they must of thought they had that but shishkins nitrous kicked in, like fast and furious..”too soon junior”

[Run4Home]

I saw on itv that someone out there had 380 bags on energumene today! Thats unlucky they must of thought they had that but shishkins nitrous kicked in, like fast and furious..”too soon junior”

Tony Bloom the owner

[Ray]

Not a good day for that man then..but he still has a seeious horse there who is capable of reversing that form in any other meeting between them going forward

[FinalFurlong91]

One thought I'd have is will shiskin have more ground to make up at Cheltenham

Energumene clearly has the higher cruising speed

He will be absolutely tanking down the hill coming up to 3 out

Then turning in the last 2 fences come up quickly after each other

A mistake from shiskin at one of those fences could be crucial

Going to be an intruiging race, fingers crossed they both get there

If shiskin is within 2 or 3 lengths jumping the last he wins, but will he be?

[Another Value Loser]

I'm still buzzing. What a race! I'm so pleased it delivered

[Mighty]

One thought I'd have is will shiskin have more ground to make up at Cheltenham

Energumene clearly has the higher cruising speed

He will be absolutely tanking down the hill coming up to 3 out

Then turning in the last 2 fences come up quickly after each other

A mistake from shiskin at one of those fences could be crucial

Going to be an intruiging race, fingers crossed they both get there

If shiskin is within 2 or 3 lengths jumping the last he wins, but will he be?

I’ve now had a chance to watch the race back - Shishkin was clearly uncomfortable with the high cruising speed and it led to mistakes, particularly the peck where I nearly thought he was gone. In March Townend surely has to push Energumene to go quicker still if he can, and keep Shishkin out of his comfort zone.

I don’t think it’s a sure fire bet that Shishkin wins at Cheltenham - my god Energumene is a fine horse, and Townend a superb jockey. There was only a length in it, and Energumene’s best chance is to try and beat Shishkin before the turn from home. I can’t wait to watch what happens.

[Olliemagern]

One thought I'd have is will shiskin have more ground to make up at Cheltenham

Energumene clearly has the higher cruising speed

He will be absolutely tanking down the hill coming up to 3 out

Then turning in the last 2 fences come up quickly after each other

A mistake from shiskin at one of those fences could be crucial

Going to be an intruiging race, fingers crossed they both get there

If shiskin is within 2 or 3 lengths jumping the last he wins, but will he be?

I think and it’s only my opinion the fact they will be going left will mean the jumping will be less of an issue for shishkin and will slow ener down ever so slightly. If shishkin was ever gunna get beat right handed was how it was going to happen

[Odin]

Anyone else notice that Townend (maybe) didn't cover himself in glory on the run in? Thought he was excellent for the rest of the race and it's not a criticism of his ride per se, but when I watched I thought his reins were a lot looser than Nico's on shishkin potentially hindering his ability to ride energumene out? I don't know if it affected the result and regardless that was the day to beat shishkin imo (right handed with the errors he made) but just a thought as to why shishkin may have finished stronger outside of him just being a better horse
Edit - only noticed this after the last fence if anyone wants to watch back and tell me I'm seeing things?

[Exar Essay]

I saw it slightly differently. I felt Shishkin’s error came when Nico tried to put him upside Energumene, perhaps to try and tempt Paul to overdo the speed and burn Energumene out. I mean no doubt Energumene was travelling better throughout, but I felt Shiskin’s error was because of a tactical move rather than him not being able to live with the pace.

[Irish Rugby]

It's not unusual to have small field Champion Chases but I can't see many wanting to face up against these two.

[Supermaster]

There are two reasons why horses are beaten in the closing stages:

1. They fail to see out the trip
2 They get outpaced in the closing stages

Now how do you know the difference?

Well one well known example of type 1 is Frodon in last year's Gold Cup when the three Irish horses swept past with about a furlong to go. Frodon appeared to slow to a walk (in comparison) though still running faster than Bolt could sprint (c25 mph I guess compared to c30 mph for the Irish horses). So a horse that fails to stay appears to hit a wall but note this is relative to the other horses. Another clue is how they run through the line.

Looking at the speed figure (which I assume is for the leader) Energumene's speed in the final straight varied from 32mph to 27 mph but actually picked up towards the end when challenged. Shishkin beat him for flat speed after the last. It was similar to Champ beating Minella Indo in the 2020 festival 3m1f novices chase. That doesn't mean Energumene will win the Champion Chase and Shishkin will flop of course, but it does mean that Energumene cannot be discounted - can't see him going for the Ryanair instead. Part 2 coming in March

[Lobos]

I saw on itv that someone out there had 380 bags on energumene today! Thats unlucky they must of thought they had that but shishkins nitrous kicked in, like fast and furious..”too soon junior”

Yep, with Star Sports

[Istabraq]

I saw on itv that someone out there had 380 bags on energumene today! Thats unlucky they must of thought they had that but shishkins nitrous kicked in, like fast and furious..”too soon junior”

Think I know that lad.
He owns half of Berkshire and is probably about 15th in line to the throne so I wouldn’t be feeling too sorry for him, he can still afford to stick the central heating on…

[Lobos]

Just watched the race back again and Shishkin won it a shade more cosily than I first thought. He really does have extra gears where it really matters. He gave Energumene a 4 length head start, he can jump better, he travelled the furthest way round..........but still won. Superstar.

[Bollinger]

Think I know that lad.
He owns half of Berkshire and is probably about 15th in line to the throne so I wouldn’t be feeling too sorry for him, he can still afford to stick the central heating on…

He’s probably about 18th in line to the throne this morning.