Champion Chase picture clouded as A Plus Tard outguns Chacun Pour Soi

A race that was meant to lend some clarity to the Queen Mother Champion Chase picture served only to muddy the waters further as A Plus Tard swooped to claim the scalp of Chacun Pour Soi courtesy of yet another exquisite Rachael Blackmore steer.

When Willie Mullins' emphatic Punchestown festival winner jumped to the lead at the final ditch and followed that with another exuberant leap two out, there was a sense he was about to confirm his considerable potential in this exalted sphere.

However, he failed to shake off the chasing pack, and Blackmore had moved to keep A Plus Tard on his shoulder as they swung for home.

Under pressure, Chacun Pour Soi found little. A Plus Tard, who had the benefit of a run after finishing second in the Fortria Chase, was generous in response to Blackmore's urgings, eventually drawing nearly four lengths clear.

Watch A Plus Tard beat Chacun Pour Soi in a thriller

Ordinary World kept on to be third for a second year in a row, with the hat-trick-seeking Simply Ned tiring from the bend to be a well-beaten fourth.

A Plus Tard’s triumph at odds of 4-1 was a second Grade 1 in as many days for the insatiable Henry de Bromhead-Blackmore axis after Notebook humbled Fakir D'’Oudairies in the Racing Post Novice Chase.

You could conclude that Chacun Pour Soi, who was 8-15 favourite, had simply needed the run on his first start of the season and his first in open company.

Henry de Bromhead: said A Plus Tard could be aimed at the two-miler at the Dublin Racing FestivalCredit: Patrick McCann

Nonetheless, the glass half full angle is tempered by the winner not appearing to be considered a serious player at this trip, even by his own connections.

A Plus Tard’s finest hour came over an intermediate distance when he bolted up off a rating of 144 in the Close Brothers Chase at Cheltenham in March.

At just five years of age he is clearly still on the upgrade, and he reaffirmed De Bromhead’s superb capacity to bring his horses along gradually in spectacular style.

“I never expect but you always hope,” the Waterford-based handler said. “I wasn’t convinced this was our trip, but the softened ground helped and he jumped brilliant.”

As for future plans, De Bromhead suggested A Plus Tard could return for a tilt at the equivalent two-miler at the Dublin Racing Festival, although that was as much to do with the absence of a suitable alternative.

“There are very few suitable two-and-a-half-mile Graded races in Britain or Ireland, so it’s probably where we’ll go with him,” he said.

"I think he is way better on a left-handed track and couldn’t find any two-and-a-half-mile left-handed races over further, so this was the race we decided to go for."

He added: “We’ll probably enter him in the Champion Chase, but in my head he was always going for the Ryanair, although ground would come into play as well.”

Blackmore, riding her sixth Grade 1 winner of a memorable 2019, said: "It's unbelievable; it's been some Christmas. This fellow was definitely going to improve for his run and he is so accurate with his jumping. I had to switch out turning in but he got the job done well."

Paddy Power, who sponsored this €125,000 race, cut A Plus Tard to 6-1 for both Cheltenham Festival races, having been previously been 16-1 about him for the Ryanair and 33-1 for the Queen Mother.

Chacun Pour Soi's Champion Chase odds doubled from 3-1 to 6-1, but Mullins was not too despondent.

"I'm just hoping he needed the run," he said. "He did an awful lot right and was beaten by a good horse, so there is no shame in that."

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