It was not the romantic reckoning many had wished for but, in a sense, the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase epitomised this jumping season. As Paul Nicholls celebrated yet another grade one success with Dodging Bullets, the middle leg of a treble in spirited riposte to Willie Mullins’ first-day feats, Nicky Henderson stood in the mud and desolation of the also-rans.
Henderson had spoken unapologetically with his heart when venturing that Sprinter Sacre might banish recent memories and recapture his implacable best. Instead, as was always equally possible, this once great champion was pulled up in the closing stages of a race that also saw the eclipse of his successor, Sire De Grugy.
Nicholls spoke pragmatically when he said: “I know the other two were past champions but I couldn’t see why they were ahead of us in the betting, it must have been on sentiment. Dodging Bullets was the progressive young horse and they usually come out on top.”
Henderson, who also lost Rolling Star to a fatal fall in the Coral Cup, was left contemplating the possible retirement of a horse that gave him some of his finest moments. A post-race scope was inconclusive and the trainer said: “We will not make any snap decisions on Sprinter’s future. We had dared to dream and it’s a very deflating day but the one thing we will never do is abuse him.”
Meanwhile Gary Moore, trainer of Sire De Grugy, was pondering a longer trip and lamenting ground too quick for the favoured rhythms of his finest inmate. “He won his last race in a bog and this was no good to him these days,” Moore said. “If he goes to Aintree, it will be over another half-mile.”
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The long-awaited duel, inevitably hyped as the narrative of this race, scarcely got started and with Champagne Fever bizarrely ruled out after being bitten by an irritated stablemate on his journey from Ireland, the quality of the field was diminished.
Dodging Bullets, bred by Frankie Dettori and already the outstanding two-mile chaser of this season, duly landed his third and most important leading race, in the process erasing a statistic to make Nicholls cringe.
Britain’s champion trainer last won a Festival race over fences six years ago and this remarkable run had been extended when Southfield Theatre landed on the final ditch, sustained a season-ending cut but still rallied to finish second to the imposing Don Poli in the RSA Chase.
Nicholls looked forlorn after that setback. His recent Festivals have habitually started slowly, spiced with ill-fortune, but suddenly the wheel turned . He won the Coral Cup with a French import making his British debut and added the Fred Winter Juvenile with Qualando either side of the championship chase he took twice with the brilliant Master Minded.
As yet, Dodging Bullets is no Master Minded but he has made striking progress through a season he began with a modest third in a listed race. Yesterday, with Dettori an animated presence, he was not spectacular in beating two outsiders but he has become an admirably reliable animal.
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Somersby, beaten little more than a length in second, left his connections looking proud yet rueful. It was the fourth time he has been placed at the Festival without winning. Ironically, Henrietta Knight, his former trainer, handled all the horses owned by Sir Martin Broughton until her retirement. Here, Broughton was enjoying his biggest success with Dodging Bullets.
Broughton has enjoyed a stellar business career, with a reputation for calm, unemotional leadership, but this saw him in a different, uninhibited light. “You don’t get these instant moments in business,” he said. “I’m ecstatic.”
Sam Twiston-Davies was completing a rapid double after a cool ride on the raw but potentially top-class Aux Ptits Soins in the Coral Cup. Nicholls had bought the horse in France last autumn and he had been subject of excited speculation before this bold first run. “Paul was talking him up at the preview panels and I knew I’d better not mess up,” the jockey said.
He had to settle for minor honours behind his friend and deputy, Nick Scholfield, as Nicholls embellished his day with a one-two in the Fred Winter.
3.20 Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase
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1 Dodging Bullets (S Twiston-Davies) 9-2
2 Somersby (B Hughes) 33-1
3 Special Tiara (N Fehily) 18-1
9 ran. NR: Champagne Fever, Clarcam. Dist: 1 1/4l, 1 3/4l.
Trainer: P Nicholls.