All systems go for Majborough in Champion Chase

Red-hot favourite Majborough will face a maximum of 12 rivals in the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham on Wednesday.

Following the defection of last year’s winner Marine Nationale, the Willie Mullins-trained Majborough is odds-on for the Cheltenham Festival’s day two feature, having put a couple of indifferent jumping displays behind him with a particularly impressive performance in last month’s Dublin Chase.

Frank Berry, racing manager to owner JP McManus, said: “He was very good at the Dublin Racing Festival, he handled the soft ground very well there and Willie is very happy with him – hopefully he can get there now in one piece.

“We’re looking forward to it and hopefully there is a bit of juice in the ground as that could be very important for him.”

McManus has a second potential runner in the admirable Jonbon, but he appears unlikely to take his chance at this stage.

“He’s confirmed in case anything was to happen to Majborough. Touch wood that doesn’t happen, but we all know what can happen with horses,” Berry added.

Mullins will also saddle Il Etait Temps, who needs to bounce back from a disappointing run and heavy fall in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot.

L’Eau Du Sud is a leading contender for Dan Skelton, Henry de Bromhead’s Quilixios is set to run for the first time since falling at the final fence in last year’s renewal and high-class novice Irish Panther has been left in for the father-son training partnership of Eddie and Patrick Harty.

Brookie (Anthony Honeyball), 2024 Champion Chase hero Captain Guinness (De Bromhead), Found A Fifty (Gordon Elliott), Libberty Hunter (Evan Williams), Saint Segal (Jane Williams), Solness (Joseph O’Brien) and Only By Night (Gavin Cromwell) are the other hopefuls.