29 October 2020
By Roger Jones
roger@TheCork.ie
Entertainment / Sport
Down Royal Racecourse in Ireland is the venue for the Ladbrokes Champion Chase this weekend (31st October 2020), the race a target for many of the best chasers in the UK and Ireland.
This Grade 1 contest is run over 3m with fifteen jumps to negotiate and names such as Kauto Star, Florida Pearl, Looks Like Trouble and Beef Or Salmon have triumphed in past years. Paul Nicholls has won four of the past thirteen renewals of this race and anything that the top UK trainer sends over should be viewed with respect. Similarly Gordon Elliott has been prominent in recent years with the Meath-based trainer saddling three of the last seven winners.
Elliott is giving Delta Work a chance to clash with new stablemate Presenting Percy, the former finishing a somewhat disappointing fourth in the opening Grade One race of the National Hunt season in Ireland last term, however he has been raising his game since then with wins in the Irish Gold Cup and Savills Chase.
Owned by the Gigginstown House Stud, the gelding rounded things off by finishing in fifth position at the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Gordon Elliott will be hoping that he can improve upon this when he takes his place in the blue riband event next year.
Presenting Percy put in a stunning performance in the RSA Chase at Cheltenham two years ago, however he hasn’t quite looked the same since then. He wasn’t far behind stable rival Delta Work in the two Leopardstown races last term however and Elliott is gearing him up for the Gold Cup next year or he may even point him towards the Grand National at Aintree on April 10th.
Elliott’s strong hand in this race is strengthened even further by Ravenhill, Shattered Love, The Storyteller and Alpha Des Obeaux.
Henry de Bromhead is represented by contenders Chris’s Dream and Balko Des Flos , while Noel Meade will look to continue his recent success in this race with Tout Est Permis and Snow Falcon.
In fairness, it’s extremely hard to look past Delta Work and Presenting Percy ahead of the Ladbrokes Champion Chase, however with the former raising the bar in recent outings, we’re more than happy to side with the favourite to do the business at Down Royal this weekend at best odds of 7/4, Freebets.ie providing full details of all the best odds, offers and free bets on the 2020 Ladbrokes Champion Chase.