After winning the 2024 Arkle Novices’ Chase, Gaelic Warrior will now be campaigned towards a tilt at the Champion Chase at next year’s Cheltenham Festival.
Gaelic Warrior Set For Champion Chase Campaign
Just over 24 hours after Gaelic Warrior was scratched from the King George Chase, it has been announced that he will now be heading down the Champion Chase route this season. The son of Maxios was not the only horse to be pulled out of the race, with Willie Mullins removing all eight of his entries for the Kempton contest.
Legendary Irish trainer Mullins confirmed the news on Wednesday that he will go down the 2m route. All roads lead to the Grade 1 race at Cheltenham, won by the yard twice (Energumene – 2022, 2023).
Gaelic Warrior was originally thought to be taking part in the 3m King George at Kempton on Boxing Day where the best horse racing betting sites in the UK had him as the favourite.
However, the champion trainer wasn’t keen on running him over 3m for his first start of the season, and it looks like 2m will be his trip for the foreseeable future. There are plenty of options for the Rich Ricci-owned six-year-old and Leopardstown at Christmas looks the likely starting point.
What Did Mullins Say?
Mullins said to the Racing Post: “Gaelic Warrior will run over two miles at Christmas and then at the Dublin Racing Festival I’d imagine. Or we could look at the Clarence House as going right-handed around Ascot would suit him.
“But more than likely he’ll go to Leopardstown twice and then the Champion Chase. We took him out of the King George as I wasn’t going to run him over three miles on his first run of the season. If he’d run in the John Durkan, we would have looked at the King George.”
With horse racing being such a funny game, punters are often left playing ‘Mullins bingo’ and left guessing where his horses are going. However, the Closutton-based trainer seems adamant on the Champion Chase being the target for last season’s Arkle winner (see below).
WATCH: 2024 Arkle Novices’ Chase Hero Storms To Victory
🚀 WHAT A PERFORMANCE!
Third time lucky at the Cheltenham Festival for Gaelic Warrior who bolts up in the Arkle for Mullins & Townend pic.twitter.com/6ImZmt3gcI
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) March 12, 2024
Gaelic Warrior Price For Champion Chase – What Is It?
Since the news that the Arkle hero will head for the Champion Chase, his price has cut to as short as 4/1. Although his trainer is responsible for three of the first four in the betting. El Fabiolo is third favourite, despite a recent setback and two-time race winner Energumene is the outsider of the three. See all the odds below with the best UK betting sites as Jonbon leads the market.
- Jonbon 7/2 (Nicky Henderson)
- Gaelic Warrior 4/1 (Willie Mullins)
- El Fabiolo 7/1 (Willie Mullins)
- Energumene 10/1 (Willie Mullins)
- Marine Nationale 16/1 (Barry Connell)
- Il Etait Temps 20/1 (Willie Millins)
- Banbridge 33/1 (Willie Mullins)
- Dinoblue 33/1 (Willie Mullins)
- Found A Fifty 33/1 (Gordon Elliot)
- Captain Guinness 40/1 (Henry De Bromhead)
- Ginny’s Destiny 50/1 (Paul Nicholls)
- 33/1 BAR
When Is The Champion Chase?
This season’s Champions Chase will take place on Wednesday 12th March at 4:00pm, as part of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival.
Keep an eye out for more horse racing updates on SportsCasting UK. Also check out our columnist Andrew Mount who provides selections and insight daily.
