After racing was abandoned at Ascot last Saturday, it’s confirmed that the 2023 Clarence House Chase will be run at Cheltenham racecourse this weekend.
The royal venue was one of several to cancel racing over the previous weekend due to concerns over safety, with the ground being reported as frozen. That means the prestigious Grade One Clarence House Chase comes to Cheltenham for just the third time ever.
Market leader.
Willie Mullins was the winning trainer the last time this race was brought to the Cotswolds with the legendary Un De Sceaux. He saddles another superstar here in the form of market leader Energumene.
The imposing nine year old has a near perfect record, with a defeat to Shiskin in last year’s renewal of this race at Ascot the only blot on his copybook since 2019. Since then, however, he’s gone from strength to strength.
Horses for courses.
Course form is incredibly important when it comes to a track like Cheltenham. Luckily for Mullins and Energumene, his impressive win in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at last year’s Festival is enough to suggest he wins this here.
Funambule Sivola was second behind the Mullins runner in that race 12 months ago, however he was no match for the winner, as Paul Townend kicked him onto an eight length victory by the time the winning post came. He doesn’t much enjoy the slower going and that’s reflected in his price.
Return of the King.
This won’t be a stroll around the Cotswolds for the market leader however, as Alan King brings his stable superstar Edwardstone to Cheltenham. Last year’s Arkle winner will have his sights set on Energumene as he prepares for this year’s Festival come March.
His impressive victory in the Tingle Creek in December certainly suggests that he has enough in the tank to trouble the favourite here. Not least because he left Nicky Henderson’s Shiskin trailing 15 lengths behind him, so there is some collateral form to consider there.
Two horse race.
Editeur Du Gite comes into this looking to spoil the party, after cruising to a 13 length victory in the Desert Orchid at Kempton in December. Edwardstone did also run in that race, but unseated early at the fifth, so there’s no telling how much that affected the result.
The likelihood is the winner would have played second fiddle to Alan King’s nine year old, had he managed to keep the jockey on board throughout. That will have left a bitter taste in Tom Cannon’s mouth and he’ll be keen to rectify that here.
Joe Tizzard’s Amarillo Sky comes into this on a hattrick after back to back wins at Cheltenham and Newbury back in November. The latter of those a comfortable 14 length victory in a handicap chase. This represents a massive step up, however.
Sizing Pottsie has come up against a few of these and hasn’t given them any troubles, so is rightly the outsider for this. Unfortunately for the rest of the field, this looks to be a two horse race.
