‘That wasn’t him’ – team mystified by Defi Du Seuil’s Champion Chase flop
Philip Hobbs and Barry Geraghty were left mystified and deflated as hot favourite Defi Du Seuil trailed home in fourth of five in the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase.
The last of the big three still standing after the defection of Altior and Chacun Pour Soi was sent off 2-5 favourite to land his third Grade 1 race of the season.
However he was never moving like a long odds-on shot and was beaten just over 13 lengths behind 6-1 winner Politologue at the line.
“That wasn’t him,” said Hobbs, who trains the dual Cheltenham Festival winner for JP McManus. “He was never really travelling. He seems all right afterwards but Barry thought there was no zest there.
“Everything has gone so well this season so far, he’s won his three races and been in good form at home, then this happens. It’s very disappointing. We’ll have to reassess.”
Geraghty, who had won the two previous races in the same colours, knew his fate a long way out, and said: “He was never really going. I was trying to nurse him into it but I knew from the back of the third-last the game was up.
“He’s fine, but for no obvious reason he just didn’t perform, but he’ll have other days. He’s still a gorgeous horse. I’m sure there’s plenty more fun to be had with him.
“Full credit to the winner, he was the last horse Defi passed here in November, he’s a high-class horse and he’s been competitive in all these races for years and he had his day.”
Rewatch the Champion Chase here
Reliving the RSA: how Champ defied reality to surge past Minella Indo and Allaho
Just when you thought you had seen it all at the Cheltenham Festival, Champ, the horse who divides opinion like no other, produced an outrageous performance to justify favouritism in the RSA Chase.
Astonishing Champ posts miraculous RSA victory after hitting 399-1 in running
It was a Tyson Fury-like performance as Champ looked out for the count on the home turn as front-running pair Allaho and Minella Indo drew clear in their private scrap.
However, Champ pulled himself off the canvas after the last to defy a Betfair in-running high of 399-1, helped by his two rivals who both breasted the last to lose vital momentum as they faced the uphill run to the line.
Allaho, sent off 5-2 favourite to give owners Cheveley Park Stud a double after Envoi Allen’s opening-race win, gamely came back at Minella Indo, who had hit a low of 1.06 on Betfair, but all the time Geraghty was gathering a response from Champ, who had flown the last.
