Down Royal Champion Chase 2026 Tips: Banbridge Can Roll Back The Years

The Down Royal Champion Chase, run this year in memory of Envoi Allen, is a seven-runner Grade 1 with plenty of questions and no obvious banker. Heart Wood heads the market on his step up to three miles, but Billy Grimshaw is not convinced he is the one to be on, and he works through the field before naming a former King George winner as his best bet.

Down Royal's flagship Grade 1 has a new look this year, with the old Champion Chase now run in memory of Envoi Allen, who won it three times for Henry de Bromhead, and a field of seven has been assembled with Willie Mullins notable by his absence. The ground has been the talking point, as Storm Boelo dropped a significant amount of rain on the track and it is now officially yielding, with the chase course good to yielding in places, which will make three miles a proper test. Heart Wood heads the market at around 5/2 on the back of his Ryanair win and he is a fair favourite on the figures, but I am not sure this is a race to be taking short odds in.

The case for Heart Wood is a strong one on the surface. He won the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham in March, beating Jonbon by ten lengths, and he won over two miles seven furlongs on his reappearance at Punchestown a year ago. Henry de Bromhead has been honest that he is using this race to find out whether three miles is his trip, though, and that is the crux of it for me. He has done his best work at around two and a half miles, he was only third in the Melling at Aintree on his next start, and yielding ground does nothing to make the stamina question any easier. I would respect him, but I would not want to be taking 5/2.

Fleur In The Park has the most progressive profile in the field, although the market is rather more circumspect about him at 5/1. He took to fences brilliantly, winning a Grade 1 novice chase at Fairyhouse in April and finishing second in a Grade 1 at Punchestown over two and a half miles, and he has already had a run this season, winning the Danoli Chase at Gowran Park earlier this month, which gives him an edge in fitness over a number of these. My doubt is the same as it is with the favourite. Three miles on yielding ground is further than he has been asked to go in Grade 1 company and I suspect it might just find him out.

Affordale Fury is the one I have most time for among the rest. Noel Meade's gelding won the Savills Chase at Leopardstown over three miles and chased home Envoi Allen last year, so he knows what is required. The worry is that his last run ended with him being pulled up, and although that has been put down to him being lame you have to take that on trust, which is a big ask even at 5/1. Croke Park was a smart novice but has done little in open company since and at 66/1 looks to be making up the numbers, while Romeo Coolio was unbeaten in his first four chases before being pulled up as the 9/4 favourite in the Brown Advisory, with a back problem reported to have been behind it. He is unexposed at the trip, but a first run since March at this level is a lot to ask at 4/1.

Haiti Couleurs is a lovely horse and Rebecca Curtis has him in good form, with Paul Townend taking over from Sean Bowen, who is at Wetherby. He won the Welsh Grand National and the Denman Chase last season, but he was pulled up in the Gold Cup and finished 14th in the Grand National, and this is a very different test to the marathon handicaps that have made his name. Curtis has said this is one of the weaker Grade 1s of the season and that the track should suit, which is fair enough, but Townend has yet to ride a winner in Ireland for the yard from four attempts and his mark has gone up a long way. At 5/1 I am happy to look elsewhere.

That leaves BANBRIDGE, who is the one I want to be with at the prices. Regular readers will recall he was my each-way play in last season's King George, when he was beaten a nose by The Jukebox Man while Jango Baie, my actual selection, finished fourth, which tells you everything about my day. The point is that he is a former winner of that race who jumped and travelled beautifully for most of the way at Kempton and was only collared on the line, and the Grade 1 form he brings to a race like this is something very few in this field can match. Three miles is no problem for him, which is more than can be said for the two at the head of the betting.

He is also much fresher than you might expect. After unseating his rider at the Chair in the Grand National he won a one mile six furlong maiden on the Flat at Gowran Park on 1 September at 4/1, which is not a sentence I thought I would be writing about a 10 year old chaser, and while Joseph O'Brien admitted the win came as a surprise it will have put plenty of fitness into him. JJ Slevin takes the ride, having been on board at Aintree, and with the favourite unproven at the trip and the second favourite a doubt, 5/1 looks the best bet on the board, with 11/2 available in places.

There are reasons to be wary, of course. He is 10, his jumping let him down at Aintree and O'Brien has made it clear that this is only one of several options, including a trip to America and a King George rematch, so it is fair to wonder how bullish connections really are. Heart Wood rates the chief danger if he does stay, and Fleur In The Park will take plenty of beating if the stamina question is answered in his favour. But I am happy to side with a proven three mile Grade 1 performer at a bigger price than the favourite, and I am backing BANBRIDGE to put the race to bed up the straight.