Cheltenham: Queen Mother Champion Chase

Main feature at Cheltenham today is the Queen Mother Champion Chase over 2 miles at 16.20 CET. 12 runners line up, but under normal circumstanes 11 of them are only running for place money as Master Minded (Paul Nicholls/ Ruby Walsh) looks a certainty. He won the race last year in breath-taking fashion and is officially rated the best N.H. horse in training, so defeat here would be a major sensation. On recent form, the main contenders for second place are likely to be Irish hope Big Zeb (Colm Murphy/ Robert Thornton), Briareus (Andrew Balding/ Tony McCoy) and Petit Robin, represeenting yesterdays Champion Hurdle winning team of Nicky Henderson and Barry Geraghty. Two German-bred horses run here, Twist Magic (Paul Nicholls/ Sam Thomas), smart but unconsistent and beaten miles by his stable companion last year, and Well Chief (David Pipe/ Timmy Murphy), who was runner-up in this to Moscow Flyer in 2005 and won the Arkle over this CD a year earlier. He has been plaged by proble ms ever since and will now be racing for the first time in 2 years. At his best he could give Master Minded a race, but it will be the training feat of the year if Pipe can bring him back to his old form.