Energumene gave Willie Mullins a first Queen Mother Champion Chase victory in a dramatic race as Shishkin was pulled up early on.
Shishkin was the odds-on favourite going into Wednesday’s feature race, but he never looked comfortable and after a number of lethargic jumps he was pulled up by Nico de Boinville.
That opened the door for the Mullins duo, but Chacun Pour Soi fell at the very next fence to leave the race seemingly there for Energumene to take.
Envoi Allen took to the front with three to jump, but it was Energumene with Paul Townend aboard who jumped the second-last superbly and powered away to take the Champion Chase in style. Funambule Sivola came home in second, with Envoi Allen in third.
“I was on a very good horse, it’s easy to make it look easy,” Townend said.
“This guy deserved it. I probably rode about four different races on him and he still won.
“The tactics kind of went out the window early on, he was enjoying himself.”
Shishkin’s trainer Nicky Henderson confirmed after the race that the soft ground was the problem for the horse.
Mullins got his day off to the perfect start with an 80th Cheltenham victory earlier in the day, as Sir Gerhard proved to be a worthy odds-on favourite in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle.
The heavy rain changed the going to soft and that led to the well-fancied Bravemansgame being a non-runner in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase. L’Homme Presse jumped superbly all the way round to win with Charlie Deutsch aboard, ahead of Ahoy Senor who defied a poor jumping display to finish second.
Gordon Elliott got off the mark for the Festival as Commander Of Fleet gave him a 50/1 winner in the Coral Cup, beating Fastorslow by a nose in a thrilling finish.
