Road To Respect holds off Clan Des Obeaux in thrilling Champion Chase

Road To Respect may not have won the Ladbrokes Champion Chase with the authority of his 16-length victory in 2018, but this year's win was tougher as he became only the third horse to land the prize for a second time.

It was owners Gigginstown House Stud's seventh successive victory in the race and brought a reduction in their star's King George VI Chase odds to a general 14-1.

Paul Nicholls' four-length runner-up Clan Des Obeaux and winner of last year's King George is a best-priced 7-1 for the Christmas showpiece behind 5-2 favourite Altior.

The presence of Clan Des Obeaux and last season's top staying novice chaser Delta Work made this a tough test, and with the former enjoying himself out in front for Harry Cobden and jumping brilliantly, he was bound to prove a tough opponent.

So it proved, but Road To Respect wasn't found wanting in the jumping stakes deep in the race and fully took his measure from the final fence to score by four lengths under Sean Flanagan, with the always prominent Alpha Des Obeaux a further ten lengths away in third.

Meade said: “He was great today and Sean gave him a super ride. He jumped brilliantly, they didn't go quick which helped him in that regard. I was worried that not enough rain had come. People think that he's a good-ground horse but he's a big heavy horse and he was shouldery after Leopardstown last spring when it was too quick, that's why he wasn't really jumping or letting himself go afterwards.”

He added: “He's entered in the King George, the owners obviously have a lot of horses to run and perhaps that's where this fellow will go. If we can keep him in this sort of shape and on that sort of ground I think he would be a contender. #

"Last year he wasn't the same horse after Leopardstown, but we were able to do exactly what we wanted with him coming into this race and it all worked out very well. We'll try and do the same now up to Christmas.”

Sean Flanagan and Road To Respect celebrate their second win at Down RoyalCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Flanagan said: “He didn't carry it forward after this race last year but if he can this year it would be great. We didn't go quick but that suited me and he was very settled today, which is a key to him, and he has loads of boot as you know. It rode a good race and I was using the English horse down to the second last as a break. He did it well.”

Clan Des Obeaux didn't seem to lose anything in defeat in his attempt to give Paul Nicholls a fifth win in the race and a first since 2012.

Nicholls said: “I'm thrilled with that. He ran a blinding race. He always comes on a bit for his first run, as he did last year from Haydock to Kempton. He's run a terrific race and he was just beaten by a better horse on the day, no excuses. There should be much more to come and he will go straight to Kempton.”

The biggest disappointment was the slightly flat effort of Delta Work in fourth. Trainer Gordon Elliott said: “Keith Donoghue said that they didn't go quickly enough and he made a few mistakes. We thought he would need the run, his jumping just let him down too. He'll be fine though and he'll be there for another day.”

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