Sporting Life - Racing | Result, Cheltenham 11-03-2009 Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase

Wednesday March 11 2009

Cheltenham 15:20 - Result

Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase

£320000 added, 5yo plus, 2m, Class 1, £182432 penalty, 12 ran

Going: Good to Soft

Race Report » Watch Full Race» Watch Closing Stages»

Winning Time: 3m 59.4s

Pos.	Draw	Dist.	Horse	Wt	Jockey	Trainer	Age	SP
1			Master Minded (FR)	11-10	R Walsh	P F Nicholls	6	4/11 f
		mid-division, closed from 5th, challenged 4 out, led after 2 out, soon asserted, ran on well opened 1/3 touched 2/5 £10000-£25000 (x2) £6000-£15000 £4000-£10000 £2400-£6000 £2000-£5000 (x2) £1000-£2500 £600-£1500 (x2) £400-£1000 (x4) £4000-£11000 (x3) £2000-£5500 £1200-£3300 £400-£1100 (x3)
2		7	Well Chief (GER)	11-10	T J Murphy	D Pipe	10	12/1
		held up in rear, keen early, headway into mid-division 6th, tracking leaders 4 out, not fluent 3 out and lost ground on leading trio, kept on approaching last, edged left flat, ran on to take 2nd, no chance with winner opened 12/1 touched 12/1 £20000-£1200 £5000-£300 (x4) £20000-£1400 (x2) £10000-£700 £5000-£350 (x4) £10000-£800 £5000-£400 (x2)
3		2	Petit Robin (FR)	11-10	B J Geraghty	N J Henderson	6	12/1
		prominent 1st, chased leaders, blundered 5th, quickened to take narrow lead 3 out, ridden and headed after 2 out, outpaced by winner when not fluent last, stayed on same pace, lost 2nd flat opened 14/1 touched 14/1
4		1½	Newmill (IRE)	11-10	R M Power	J J Murphy	11	100/1
		held up in rear, mistake 1st, headway 8th, outpaced from 3 out, kept on from last and went 4th flat opened 100/1 touched 100/1
5		5	Scotsirish (IRE)	11-10	P Townend	W P Mullins	8	40/1
		held up towards rear, headway after 8th and soon chasing leaders, outpaced 3 out, stayed on approaching last, no impression when hampered at fence, weakened flat opened 50/1 touched 50/1
6		7	Mahogany Blaze (FR)	11-10	P J Brennan	N A Twiston-Davies	7	40/1
		held up in rear, hampered 9th, modest seventh 3 out, never in contention opened 66/1 touched 66/1
7		11	Ashley Brook (IRE)	11-10	R Johnson	K Bishop	11	66/1
		prominent 1st, chased leaders until after 3rd, last by 5th, hampered 4 out and behind after opened 66/1 touched 80/1
8		15	Santa's Son (IRE)	11-10	D F O'Regan	J Howard Johnson	9	33/1
		prominent 1st, chased leaders, hit 3rd, weakened after 4 out opened 40/1 touched 40/1
9		dist	Marodima (FR)	11-10	Nick Scholfield	Miss R Curtis	6	100/1
		raced freely, led after 1st, hit 2nd and 3rd, headed 4 out, weakened quickly, tailed off opened 150/1 touched 150/1
F			Big Zeb (IRE)	11-10	R Thornton	C A Murphy	8	12/1
		held up towards rear, headway after 8th, 5th when fell 9th opened 12/1 touched 14/1
F			Briareus	11-10	A P McCoy	A M Balding	9	16/1
		led until after 1st, chased leader, took narrow lead 4 out, headed when pace quickened 3 out, stumbled 2 out, 4th and weakening when fell last opened 16/1 touched 16/1
F			Twist Magic (FR)	11-10	S Thomas	P F Nicholls	7	16/1
		mid-division, not fluent 3rd, rear when hit 7th and 8th, well behind after 4 out, fell 2 out opened 20/1 touched 20/1

Tote Win: Ł1.40 Tote Place: Ł1.10,Ł2.60,Ł2.20
Straight Forecast: Ł5.89 Exacta: Ł7.30 Trifecta: Ł36.00
Swingers:1&2:Ł2.90, 2&3:Ł7.00, 1&3:Ł2.20

Jackpot: £72,548.90 Pool:£102,181.65 1.00 winning tickets Placepot: £753.20 Pool:£882,016.69 854.79 winning tickets Quadpot: £33.40 Pool:£42,680.19 943.94 winning tickets

Analysis: It may have been the most predictable result of the week but it's still a privilege simply to watch MASTER MINDED. Two false starts thanks to the over-eager Marodima might have ruffled the 4-11 favourite's feathers as when he hit the front coming down the hill, he didn't quicken clear as he did last year. But he still had seven lengths to spare at the line from Well Chief, off the course for two years with leg trouble, who ran a blinder under a sympathetic Timmy Murphy ride. Briareus made a hash of the last allowing Petit Robin, who made mistakes, to get up at the line for third.