Queen Mother Champion Chase 2024 Tips: El Fabiolo Too Good to Look Beyond

The Cheltenham Festival at Prestbury Park is nearly upon us and the build up to the Queen Mother Champion Chase is intensifying.

Wednesday's feature race was won by Willie Mullins' Energumene in 2022 and 2023, but the reigning champion is currently on the sidelines through injury.

Here's our in-depth look at the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham, which is set to get underway at 15:30 on Wednesday afternoon.

January's Clarence House Chase and the Dublin Chase at Leopardstown's Dublin Racing Festival turned out to be big pointers to the March showpiece between El Fabiolo and Jonbon.

The pair will be squaring off for the third time and, although Jonbon narrowly got the better of Mullins' star chaser over hurdles at Aintree, he was no match for him in the Arkle last season.

Jonbon was sent off the 1/4 favourite for the Clarence House Chase when last seen and he was disappointing.

Trained by Nicky Henderson, he made a bad mistake and nearly unseated James Bowen four fences from home.

That error proved to be very costly as Joe Tizzard's Elixir De Nutz got up to beat him by a neck on the day.

The worrying thing for Jonbon backers is his Cheltenham record. All three of his defeats have been at Prestbury Park and it would be a big surprise if he was good enough to reverse last season's Arkle form with El Fabiolo.

El Fabiolo, on the other hand, seems to be getting better and better. He's not a flashy chaser and he can throw in the odd dodgy jump, but he is very economical over fences and is now a perfect 6/6 over larger obstacles following his breathtaking victory in the Dublin Chase.

He has a huge engine and he can give Mullins three Champion Chase victories on the bounce.

Is there an each-way alternative to the favourite?

Given El Fabiolo is long odds-on to taste victory in the Champion Chase, his price isn't going to appeal to the everyday punter. So, is there any outsider that could serve it up to him?

Elixir De Nutz was very gutsy when seeing off Jonbon in the Clarence House, but surely that was a one-off.

Captain Guinness is a hard horse to catch right, but one lurking at a very big price with a squeak could be Gentleman De Mee, who wasn't without support before the off when fifth to El Fabiolo at Leopardstown.

Gentleman De Mee is hit or miss, but he's more than capable of hitting the frame in this race if he's on a going day.

He saw off stablemate and strong favourite Blue Lord in last season's Dublin Chase in style and looked a proper star in the making as a novice chaser, hammering Edwardstone in the Maghull at Aintree in 2022. He's not to be discounted.