Champagne can pick up the pieces

FEW horses have captured the public’s imagination quite like Sprinter Sacre.

In winning the 2013 Queen Mother Champion Chase by 19 lengths from Sizing Europe, the horse dubbed the “black aeroplane” earned one of the highest ratings in the history of Timeform.

Quite simply, Sprinter Sacre looked unbeatable over fences and two routine wins at Aintree and Punchestown followed.

But his reappearance at Kempton last season saw him pulled up with a heart condition. Other issues surfaced and Sprinter Sacre was nursed back to full health by his patient trainer, Nicky Henderson.

Said to have been showing up well at home before his reappearance at Ascot, Sprinter Sacre ran well before, understandably, tiring close home and finishing second to the much-improved Dodging Bullets.

So the big question going into tomorrow’s renewal of the Champion Chase race is how much – if anything – has Sprinter Sacre improved?

Henderson and jockey Barry Geraghty insist he has come on in leaps and bounds.

If that is the case, and he is anything like the force he once was, the rest might not bother turning up.

But, as big a fan as I am of the horse, it takes a huge leap of faith to imagine such a scenario.

There was a trickle of blood in Sprinter Sacre’s nostril after that Ascot race and it could just be that racing places too much stress on such a supreme equine athlete these days.

Reluctantly, I have to swerve him, so what wins?

The aforementioned Dodging Bullets has improved no end this season, his Ascot win supplementing a comfortable success in the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown.

But his Festival record is poor and I prefer his fast-improving stable companion Mr Mole, who was putting Sire De Grugy to the sword at Newbury before that one fell two fences from home.

The reigning two-mile champion subsequently bolted up at Chepstow, but that Newbury run sticks in my mind and I worry about his jumping when the heat is on.

Given that Mr Mole has still to prove himself in Grade One company, the selection is Champagne Fever.

He has won a Champion Bumper and Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Festival and lost out by a nostril in last year’s Arkle.

Providing he does not get involved in a tear-up for the lead with Mr Mole, Champagne Fever should get the run of the race with Ruby Walsh on board.

This may just be a case of the two former champions having too many chinks in their armour against a horse who should be in his prime at the age of eight.