Energumene connections 'won't hide' from a stellar showdown with Jonbon at Ascot later this month, with the BetMGM Clarence House Chase likely to be next for the double Champion Chase.
Having made the wrong use of Shishkin when contesting his first champion Chase in 2022, Willie Mullins, the only winner on day two of the Cheltenham Festival, is back in peak form to defend his crown a year later, demolishing the challenger, with the reigning champion. Captain Guinness chaser 10 lengths per second.
The injury robbed him of the chance to become the second horse to win three Championship Chases, as he spent the entire 2023-24 season on the sidelines. But he made a sensational return after 593 days off when he re-emerged in his traditional starting point, Cork's Hilly Way Chase, where he looked to have beaten subsequent King George champion Banbridge when eventually ousted.
Energumene has previously followed its pre-Christmas outing in Cork with Cheltenham set at Clarence House and is scheduled to resume regular service on 18 January.
Owned by Brighton & Hove Albion boss Tony Bloom, few can forget Energumene's titanic clash with the aforementioned Shishkin in the Grade 1 event three years ago, with the pair only separated by a long distance after a battle for supremacy on the Ascot straight.
The 11-year-old now looks set to meet another standout performer from Nicky Henderson's Seven Barrows Series, with the race tipped to be Gunpone's next port of call on his way to the Champion Chase – and the Energumene team are keen to take on the challenge, providing the right conditions.
Jonbon is favorite for the 2025 Champion Chase
“I spoke to Willie just before the Christmas period and he said he was fine and came out of Heliway in great condition,” said Bloom Racing Manager Sean Graham.
“Banbridge went and said it a little bit about winning the King George, but Willie also pointed out that Dinoblo (10 lengths a second) didn't do well after that – so you could say one line of the figure says he's honest and another says he doesn't .
“He's in great shape and we're just hoping the ground is soft at Ascot, the softer the better for him.
“We're certainly not going to hide from the race, and if the conditions are right and the ground is soft and not too fast, that's the race we're aiming for. I haven't heard anything different since speaking to Willie, so I'm assuming it's the same.”
The ill-fated Shishkin beat Energumin in a classic final at Clarence House in 2022
Although Clarence House is likely to see two of the leading Champion Chase players go toe-to-toe, there will be half an eye looking to March, with Energumene's main target being to reach the Cheltenham Festival with a clean bill of health.
At Prestbury Park, he will have the opportunity to repeat the exploits of Badsworth Boy, the only horse to win the Champion Chase on three occasions, and finds himself a 5-1 general with the classes after his return to Cork.
Only Gunpone and stablemate Gaelic Warrior are better than him in the betting for the two-mile championship, and Connections holds out hope in their favored conditions ahead of his long-awaited hat-trick attempt in the Cotswolds.
“Before he ran at Hilly Way he was 12-1 to win the Champion Chase and now he's about 5-1,” Graham continued.
“He will be 11 in March, the last 11-year-old to win the Champion Chase was Moscow Flyer, and before that you have to go back to Skymas in the 1970s.
“They are the last two 11-year-old drivers to win the race, which is a big ask, but if the ground is soft on Wednesday at Cheltenham, and I mean proper soft ground, I wouldn't trade it for them.” anything.
“Badsworth Boy is the only horse to have won three Champion Chase races, and when you look at all the great horses that have raced in this race over the years and all the stars, if Energumene were to go and win in March, he would be the first by a long time to win three of them.
“It shows how big the demand is, but we're looking forward to getting it there in one piece and getting a good solution anyway.”
