'It was a hell of a race' - Energumene holds off resurgent Chacun Pour Soi to claim another Champion Chase double

He won. That is about the biggest compliment you could pay Energumene after he uncharacteristically clattered a couple of fences on the way to scrambling home by three-quarters of a length from an ageing stablemate in Chacun Pour Soi whose best days were supposed to be long gone. It wasn't pretty, but he won. 

Winning is what great horses do. Even when they are not at their best, even when they take two fences out by the roots, even when they are passed on the run-in, they find a way to get the job done. 

This was not the real Energumene. This was a lethargic version of the colossus we saw at Cheltenham last month. While everything was effortless there, everything was an effort here. 

In getting the job done he became the first horse to complete the Cheltenham-Punchestown Champion Chase double twice. Some superb horses have tried and failed, even the legendary Moscow Flyer. 

The win reinforced his position as the best two-mile chaser in the business and it is going to take something special to dethrone him next season, even if this didn't show him in his best light. 

Paul Townend and Danny Mullins chat after their Champion Chase battleCredit: Patrick McCann

Willie Mullins, who saddled four runners and had the 1-2-3-4, said: "It was a hell of a race and I thought Energumene showed his grit today. He usually wins through pure class but today he looked beaten and it was grit that won it for him. He had to get down and fight it out. Paul had to get tough with him and he answered every one of his calls. 

"You could see the end of the season getting to him and Paul [Townend] said he wasn't as sharp as he usually is. He missed two fences there, which is unlike him, and I can't blame the colour of the fences this time!"

Townend, who is about to be crowned champion jockey for a sixth time, had a lot to do with this particular victory according to Mullins.

The winning trainer said: "I thought that race showed the difference between a good jockey and a great jockey. A great jockey will pull a race out of the fire and that's exactly what Paul did there. Energumene looked beaten and Paul pulled it out of the fire."

Energumene: battled to victory to complete his second Cheltenham-Punchestown doubleCredit: Patrick McCann

Townend, of course, deflected all the praise onto the horse, saying: "I think he's the best two-miler around at the moment and the fact that he was able to do things wrong today and still win shows that he is very good.

"He's a fantastic jumper but the fence after the ditch, I was lucky at that, and I said, 'Right, he's rubbed one now, he'll sort himself out' but he didn't. He clouted the fourth-last again and did well to find a leg. It was very uncharacteristic of him.

"I know how good Chacun can be around here so when he appeared, I was worried. I thought it was going to come down to the jump at the last, and Danny [Mullins] seemed to get away from it a bit better than me. Chacun's last furlong has always been his slowest though, so I was confident in this lad getting him as long as Danny wasn't gone on me."

Chacun Pour Soi was the surprise package of the race. The 2021 winner had a pretty deplorable season by his own high standards but he bounced back to something close to his best here despite the fact he is now 11 years old. He hit a low of 1.17 in-running on the Betfair Exchange. 

"I was delighted for Chacun," said Mullins. "I was thinking to myself after the last 'Wow, what a fantastic last last hurrah for Chacun' but he still ran a fantastic race. We'll see what to do with him now. It's great to see him back and producing a performance like that. Danny gave him a peach of a ride and was out to pinch as much prize-money from the back of the pack and that's what he did.”

Blue Lord was third, while Gentleman De Mee disappointed in fourth. Neither could land a glove on Energumene despite the fact he was having on off day. 

He still won, though. 

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