Festival heroine Shattered Love the headline act in hot PWC Champion Chase

4.25 Gowran Park
PWC Champion Chase (Grade 2) | 2m4f | 5yo+ | RTV

Sizing Europe won the Grade 2 PWC Champion Chase at Gowran Park four times in a row between 2011 and 2014 and this year's running is a hot affair as Shattered Love, runaway winner of the JLT Novices' Chase at the 2018 Cheltenham Festival, spearheads a three-pronged attack from the Gordon Elliott stable.

After giving Min a mighty fright in the John Durkan Chase at Punchestown in December, the remainder of the season was a tale of woe for Shattered Love.

She was 34 lengths behind Kemboy in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown, 36 lengths in arrears of Al Boum Photo in the Magners Gold Cup at Cheltenham and concluded her campaign in the BoyleSports Irish Grand National when she was pulled up.

She has her beloved soft ground for her comeback and gets weight from all of her rivals, so perhaps this will be the scene for a much-improved display.

The Storyteller: among Gordon Elliott's strong handCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

The Storyteller is also a Cheltenham Festival winner, having won last year's Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate, while Jury Duty is set to defend his American Grand National crown after this.

Elliott said: "They're all in good form and I'm keen to get them started. They're likely to improve for their first runs, but this looks a good starting point for them all."

Peregrine Run has been one of the success stories of 2019. He won five in a row before finishing a creditable fourth to Borice in the Galway Plate on the last day of July.

Good ground seems to have been the key to Peregrine Run's improvement and trainer Peter Fahey is unsurprisingly concerned by the softer conditions.

"The rain is definitely a negative but he will run unless it gets very, very heavy," the trainer said.

"He has had an unbelievable season and we gave him a nice break after the Galway Plate to freshen him up. He's in very good form and I just hope it doesn't rain too much so he can run."

Snow Falcon was too good for Shattered Love in a Grade 2 at Down Royal in November and Noel Meade reports his versatile nine-year-old to be in rude health ahead of his return to action, although he is fearful of the mare.

Meade said: "I didn't think he would make it to the race but he has. He has come forward nicely in the last few weeks and is in good shape but I would say Shattered Love will be hard to beat given the weight she is getting from everyone."

Get ahead of the game with Get Your Eye In – exclusive Saturday preview content on racingpost.com and the Racing Post mobile app from 2pm on Friday