Favori De Champdou

The Cheltenham win is the centrepiece of the story. Gordon Elliott, who trains him at his powerful yard in Longwood, Co Meath — a yard that has sent out 209 winners this season alone — made no apologies for the confidence he had going in. Elliott had watched him win the Paddy Power Chase at a big price beforehand and said clearly there was no fluke about it. At Cheltenham, the horse took to the cross-country course like he'd been born for it. Elliott admitted he hadn't even wanted Jack Kennedy in the saddle — he'd asked for Sean Bowen — but Kennedy, who rides him regularly, simply told the trainer he was riding him regardless. You can understand why. In nine races together, Kennedy has won 5 of them — that is a win rate of 56%, or better than one in every two. When a jockey fights to get on a horse, it usually means something.

What makes the Cheltenham win particularly rich in context is that Favori De Champdou had fallen at the water jump on the same course just weeks earlier in December. Rather than dent his confidence, Elliott reckoned it seemed to sharpen him up. He came back, jumped cleanly, and won with something to spare. The trainer described him as having a new lease of life, and looking at the numbers, it's hard to argue — the horse is clearly thriving. Add in the fact that he excels on wet or muddy ground, winning 2 of 3 races in those conditions, and you have a horse built for a British winter at its worst.

With the Cheltenham Festival on the horizon and Elliott openly pointing him back there, Favori De Champdou arrives as exactly the kind of seasoned, battle-hardened horse that tends to outrun expectations on the big days. He has already done it once this year. The question is whether he can do it again.