'I think we've seen the new champion today' - Mullins relishes Energumene win

Tuesday: Champion Chase, Punchestown

The rematch we longed for at Cheltenham failed to materialise but Energumene enhanced his already lofty reputation with a decisive triumph in the William Hill Champion Chase after trading blows in a fleeting but absorbing duel with his Willie Mullins-trained stablemate Chacun Pour Soi.

Shishkin failed to turn up in any meaningful fashion in the Cotswolds and he was absent here as well. However, in his Closutton ally Chacun Pour Soi, who unseated Patrick Mullins before the race began in earnest at Cheltenham, Energumene had a worthy rival.

Two from two in Grade 1s at the spring festival, Chacun Pour Soi’s loss to A Plus Tard at Leopardstown in 2019 was his sole defeat in nine starts on Irish soil.

It was a formidable record, and Mullins tried to extend it here by slowing down the fractions in front on the ten-year-old and not allowing Energumene to use his high cruising speed and flamboyant jumping to best effect.

Townend was wise to the ploy. Despite once again setting out to temper Energumene’s enthusiasm, he let the newly crowned champion chaser join Chacun Pour Soi as early as the fifth fence, although he was minded to keep taking him back a fraction at that point.

At the fourth-last fence, he joined Chacun Pour Soi in earnest and it looked a formality when they went on three-out. To Chacun Pour Soi’s credit, he rallied to eke his way back in front at the next, but Townend still hadn’t budged.

He soon got after Energumene, and the response was emphatic as Chacun Pour Soi’s resolve promptly dissolved. They had a length to spare crossing the final fence before bounding to a resounding eight-and-a-half-length success at the line.

On what was a fine evening for the perennial champion trainer’s great rival Gordon Elliott, victory in the €275,000 Grade 1 was a slightly belated first win of the meeting for Mullins.

“I was getting a little worried,” he quipped. “I wasn’t sure what was going to happen – Gordon is having a flyer!

“But that was a mighty performance. Patrick was steadying it up in front and Energumene loved it. He was jumping upsides Chacun Pour Soi.

“Halfway between the last two fences, I was worried. I thought Chacun has his chance and I thought, ‘Wow – he is back’. I couldn’t believe it. I thought maybe the race was on, but it was fantastic that Energumene found so much in the tank on this ground. He just seems to be improving with racing.

“Chacun Pour Soi has had a great career and hopefully he will win more races, but I think we’ve seen the new champion here today.”

Watch again: Energumene storms to Champion Chase win

They say you learn more in defeat than victory, and that seems to have been the case with the Tony Bloom-owned winner. Deploying his then customary blitzkrieg tactics that were so synonymous with Un De Sceaux, Townend and Energumene had no answer when Shishkin challenged late in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot.

Townend threw a curveball by dropping in the son of Denham Red at Cheltenham. Although his mount raced in his hands here, he is clearly maturing into a more rounded performer.

“On this ground, I think it was a tremendous performance, because the ground might have suited the other horses in the race,” Mullins mused.

“We learned an awful lot from Ascot. I didn’t think it was on the cards for him coming away from Ascot, but maybe we learned more about how to ride him and have more confidence in him.

"He looked like he might be another Un De Sceaux and he is by the same sire, but he has a lot more speed than we gave him credit for.”

The win was Mullins’ fourth in a row in the two-mile showpiece, and it was a record seventh in all. Townend has ridden four of those seven, including on Chacun Pour Soi in 2021 and Un De Sceaux in 2019.

“At the second last I didn’t want to go taking him back but he just adjusted himself a bit,” the champion jockey said of the fleeting moment when the 4-7 shot looked in bother.

Of the decision not to ride the eventual runner-up, he added: “It was hard to pick. It was hard at Cheltenham and it was probably harder here because I know how good Chacun can be around here.

“The way I put it was that, if I rode this lad and Chacun beat me, I wouldn’t be as upset as if I rode Chacun and got beat after getting off the Champion Chase winner.”

He had little to be worried about. Envoi Allen kept on for third, six lengths behind the runner-up. All told, it was an enthralling spectacle, but Patrick Mullins accepted the youth in the eight-year-old winner’s legs ultimately told.

“We just came up against a younger horse,” he said. “Chacun missed the third-last, battled back and got to the front after the second-last. It was a good run but just not to be today.”

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