Majborough Opens as 5/6 Favorite to Win Champion Chase at Cheltenham

Willie Mullins' six-year-old Majborough heads into this afternoon's BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham as the 5/6 market leader, carrying the weight of a dominant season and the expectations of a racing public that has seen very little to worry about — except, perhaps, his own fence-jumping.

The case for Majborough begins and ends with the Dublin Racing Festival, where Mark Walsh sent him to the front and he never looked back, winning by 19 lengths from Marine Nationale. That margin told only part of the story: the horses drawn from the same field he will face again at Prestbury Park today simply could not go with him at any point in the contest. Two years on from his Triumph Hurdle victory at Cheltenham, and after finishing an agonising three-quarters of a length third as the 1/2 favourite in last year's Arkle, this is the race that fits him best.

The deeper question is whether the Cheltenham track, two miles on the Old Course where rhythm and accuracy matter as much as raw pace, will expose the one crack in his armor. Paddy Brennan, previewing the race on the Unbridled podcast for Sky Sports, did not mince words. "I think Majborough needs a bit of rain," Brennan said. "There are people out there who see him as a banker but don't forget he won on heavy ground." Brennan opted instead for Dan Skelton's L'Eau du Sud, citing a stronger preparation coming into the race. "If Willie Mullins' horse makes one mistake, I'd be jumping right upsides him," he added.

Matt Chapman took the other side of that argument. "I think Majborough will win," Chapman said on the same podcast, though he also flagged Libberty Hunter at 66/1 as a potential big-price frame finisher, noting his sense that a long-shot would hit the board.

The concern about jumping is not a new talking point. His sketchy leaps in the previous season are on record, and the William Hill analysis of the race drew a direct line between that flaw and the race setup: Majborough will not be afforded the same uncontested lead he enjoyed in Ireland, and without it, the errors could creep back in. "Majborough can blow the race apart in either way," William Hill's preview noted. "He could repeat his performance from Ireland, and we could see a brilliant performance, or the jumping issues could crop up if he isn't afforded such an easy time in front."

Marine Nationale, beaten so comprehensively at the Dublin Racing Festival, is nevertheless available at 5/2 and carries genuine claims of his own. He is unbeaten at Cheltenham and won this race last year. The ground conditions today may also suit him better than they did in Ireland.

Majborough faces nine rivals in total. Beyond Marine Nationale, the primary dangers come from Skelton's pair of L'Eau du Sud and Il Etait Temps, the latter considered the most likely beneficiary if the favourite underperforms on testing ground. Quilixios, who fell in this race last year, and Irish Panther, a lightly raced improver trained with today specifically in mind, round out the more credible threats. With Jonbon likely redirected toward Aintree, there is no rematch of old scores here; whoever wins will do so against a field reshaped by absence as much as presence.

JP McManus, who owns Majborough, has already had winners this week at the Festival. Mark Walsh, who has also ridden a winner at the meeting, takes the mount again. The partnership that produced the 19-length romp in Dublin will need fence-by-fence accuracy today to repeat it.