JNwine.com Champion Chase 2016: Raise a glass to Valseur victory

The Grade 1 JNwine.com Champion Chase is the first top-level contest of the jumps season in Ireland and can be relied upon to kick things off with a bang, having been won by Gold Cup winners Looks Like Trouble, Kauto Star and Don Cossack since its inception in 1999. Willie Mullins won the first renewal with the legendary Florida Pearl, but Ireland's champion trainer is without a victory in the race since and it is his British counterpart who has proved most successful in the three-mile prize.

Taranis provided Paul Nicholls with the first of four victories in 2007 and the trainer has targeted the fixture with real purpose in the intervening years, registering further victories with the half-brothers Kauto Star (2008 and 2010) and Kauto Stone (2012), while also winning seven of the last eight renewals of the chief supporting race, the Grade 2 Titanic Belfast Chase.

Silviniaco Conti looks set to be his representative in the feature this time round and the seven-time Grade 1 winner heads the market at the five-day stage. He has shown himself to be a top-class staying chaser over the years and can boast back-to-back victories in the King George on his impressive CV. He was below his very best for the most part last season (though still managed to win the Grade 1 Ascot Chase in February), but is said to be over the issues that plagued him then (suffered from sarcoids). Silviniaco Conti would appear to hold obvious claims that being the case on Saturday and is certainly deserving of his place in the betting.

Nicholls emerged victorious from an engaging battle with Willie Mullins for the trainers' championship in Britain last season and is now long odds-on to defend his title following Michael O'Leary's decision to remove all his horses under the Gigginstown banner from Mullins' yard.

Don Poli was among the more high-profile departures and last year's Gold Cup third could provide the greatest threat to Silviniaco Conti on debut for Gordon Elliott. He enjoyed a productive season in open company in 2015/16, landing the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown in December and acquitting himself well in defeat at all the major spring Festivals. He should be competitive in many of the top races over three miles plus again this season and will have to be respected if lining up this weekend, although Elliott has stressed he is hoping to see some more rainfall before committing his charge to this Grade 1 prize. 

Last year's Ryanair second Valseur Lido is another former Mullins inmate with an entry in the race on Saturday. He showed top-class form when six lengths second to Vautour at Cheltenham and has joined Henry de Bromhead since ending the last campaign with a respectable second at Sandown. He remains relatively unexposed over three miles plus, with three previous runs yielding a Grade 1 victory at Punchestown and what could have been Irish Gold Cup glory (but for unseating his rider at the final flight) at Leopardstown in February. He doesn't have all that much to find with the top two in the market on that form and could potentially offer the best value at this stage, especially considering his trainer's fine form of late (five winners from last 20 runners).

Meanwhile, The Last Samuri could be joining Silviniaco Conti on the trip across the Irish Sea for Kim Bailey and he looks worth a try in better company having run well to chase home Rule The World in the Grand National at Aintree in April. He improved considerably in a 2015/16 campaign that also brought valuable handicap successes at Kempton and Doncaster, and there is every chance there could be even more to come from him this time round. Nevertheless, this represents by far the toughest test of his career to date - in terms of quality at least - and a place might be the best he can hope for on all known form.

That comment also applies to Outlander, who is another Gordon Elliott recruit attempting to follow up Don Cossack's 2015 victory in the race. He had some smart form to his name as a novice last season, but will have to step up significantly to figure here, while the likes of Gilgamboa and Smashing have each had their limitations at this level exposed on numerous occasions in the past.  

Indeed, the bookmakers appear to have this one about right and it would be a surprise if the winner didn't come from the first three in the market. Silviniaco Conti would appear the likeliest victor if bouncing back to his top-class best, but that is by no means guaranteed given last season's problems and it is Valseur Lido that makes most appeal at the current prices. He has missed some of the top staying chases to make way for his owner's better-fancied runners in the past, but could emerge as Gigginstown's number one if the ground is deemed too quick for Don Poli here and he looks a fair bet to register a third Grade 1 victory.

Recommended bet:

Back Valseur Lido at 6/1 for the JNwine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal on Saturday