2026 Champion Chase News - Quotes from connections
The 2026 Champion Chase at Cheltenham Festival brings excitement as notable trainers share their insights on contenders. Willie Mullins expresses confidence in Majborough's preparation and discusses strategies for Il Etait Temps. Dan Skelton highlights L'Eau Du Sud's freshness as a key factor, while Eddie Harty strategically chooses the Champion Chase for Irish Panther. Trainers like Henry De Bromhead, Gordon Elliott, and others offer their take on their horses' form, strategies, and confidence levels. Overall, the event promises thrilling competitions with trainers meticulously preparing their entries.
- Quotes from connections ahead of the 2026 Champion Chase
- This Grade One takes place at Cheltenham on Wednesday 11th March
- Read quotes from Willie Mullins, Dan Skelton, Eddie Harty and more
- Willie Mullins (Majborough)
- Willie Mullins (Il Etait Temps)
- Dan Skelton (L'Eau Du Sud)
- Eddie Harty (Irish Panther)
- Henry De Bromhead (Quilixios)
- Henry De Bromhead (Captain Guinness)
- Gordon Elliott (Found A Fifty)
- Jane Williams (Saint Segal)
- Evan Williams (Libberty Hunter)
Champion Chase Quotes
Read exclusive quotes from connections ahead of the 2026 Champion Chase, which headlines the second day of racing at the Cheltenham Festival.
For more quotes, news, offers and our best betting tips, head to our Cheltenham Festival 2026 page.
2026 Champion Chase News - Quotes From Connections
Willie Mullins (Majborough)
I feel like I’m training him the way I normally train him. I’m always happy enough with his jumping - he might have had one or two schools but very little I’d say. It’s more or less about getting him right and he’s come right and Mark was happy with him as well.
Willie Mullins (Il Etait Temps)
He has an entry in the Ryanair but I think he’ll run in the Champion Chase. I’m not sure we got the tactics right last time at Ascot but there was no spark in him that day. He is alright after the fall and back riding out.
He surprised me when he won at Sandown last year and then came back and repeated it in the Tingle Creek. I was hoping he could do that at Ascot, but he didn’t.
Dan Skelton (L'Eau Du Sud)
He’s had a fantastic start to the year. I was blown away by the Shloer (he won the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham’s November Meeting) performance. However, the Shloer performance was probably accentuated by three factors. One, he was very ready. Two, he is brilliant fresh. And three, Jonbon obviously wasn't cherry ready that day. So I think that performance, we have to look at it through the correct lens.
But I'd also think that what you saw at Sandown (when third in the Betfair Tingle Creek in December) is nothing like the reality. So at Sandown, he wasn't fresh. He's a horse that's very good fresh.
The mistake I made last year is I shouldn't have run him at Warwick in the Kingmaker. I should have gone straight to the Arkle. Now that's not saying that we would have won the Arkle, but we only had sort of two and a half lengths to make up that day. And we've made sure we've not made that mistake this year.
It's all systems go. He jumped this morning, jumped nicely. We can give him a little bit more work this week. We had him very ready for the Shloer, and he will be in at least Shloer form for this. Whether that's good enough or not, we will see.
There's a few in the race I think personally we can beat. And there's a few in the race I think it remains to be seen, but I think we have a lot of ticks in our boxes. Course form is important - he has that and I think he's a real player.
Eddie Harty (Irish Panther)
After a lot of thought we've come to the Champion Chase. In the end, [there were] three things. His age, he's an age that he should be going for the Champion; his jumping is good enough, I mean if it's not good enough for the Champion Chase then it's not good enough for the Arkle. That's the long and the short of it.
Marine Nationale is out, we don't know what else is out at this stage, but we still left it down to declaration stage, having sort of decided after casting the net wide for opinions that the Champion would either be the braver or the more stupid call - time will tell which.
Realistically, when we looked at the declarations at 09:40 (on Sunday) all of the ones that you'd expect to be in it were in it, in the exception of Romeo Coolio which was well flagged beforehand. So we decided to throw the dice and go to Wednesday instead.
If you want to bring it down to the lowest tier, he doesn't know he's not in a novice race so he's not going there with any mindset that 'I'm stepping up here', that is down to us.
Henry De Bromhead (Quilixios)
He’s had a couple of setbacks through the year but he’s really good now. He actually worked today on the grass at a place we go to and he worked really well.
He’s in great form, he runs well fresh and he could be exciting. He worked really well today. It’s a tough thing to do but it’s been done before but the next couple of weeks will tell.
Henry De Bromhead (Captain Guinness)
He was disappointing last year to be honest. He just doesn’t seem himself. He seems better there now - certainly this time last year he started coming to himself. We’ve tweaked a few things with him and he definitely seems in better form now. We’ve tweaked a few things with him and he definitely seems better now.
Gordon Elliott (Found A Fifty)
He never lets you down. He beat Dinoblue at Navan in November and then went to Cork and beat Majborough. He'll be a big price in the Champion Chase if we decide to go there, but would you be surprised if he sneaked into third or fourth? I wouldn't. He was second to Gaelic Warrior in the Arkle a couple of years ago.
Jane Williams (Saint Segal)
We’re very pleased with him, he’s come out of his race really well. He’s very consistent and I’m hoping he’ll keep going. I don’t know if there’s any more improvement in him, but who knows? He’s just carried on improving this season. He’s in very good form and very happy at home, so it’s all good.
Evan Williams (Libberty Hunter)
It’s been so difficult with him since the Queen Mother last year and then the start of this year. His run in the Tingle Creek was just to try and get his confidence back, and the same at Newbury really so we could get the show back on the road.
He will run at the Festival providing it’s not too dry. He nearly won the Grand Annual a couple of years ago and he just loves Cheltenham, I don’t know why, but he does. Some horses like it and some don’t, he likes it which is never a bad thing.
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