Master Minded the one to watch at Cheltenham Festival
Master Minded is the sizzling hot favourite to win the prestigiousQueen Mother Champion Chaseat the Cheltenham Festival next month, so much so that his odds of 3-1 are a vast hop, skip and a jump away from his nearest rivals - Voy Por Ustedes, Big Zeb and Petit Robin, who all share odds of 12-1!
He has all the backing in the world with three-time Champion trainer, Paul Nicholls, carefully coaxing him to his very best and in the heat of the chase he can rely on the tactics, empathy and strength of one of the leading jockeys of all time, the incomparable Ruby Walsh!
Although Nicholls has trained literally thousands of horses over the years, he has claimed that the big bay is his biggest triumph and when you consider that star performers like Kauto Star and Denman are part and parcel of the Ditcheat stables, then it is indeed a massive accolade for the six year old French bred Master chaser.
Oddly enough the horse failed to impress in continental Europe, even taking a couple of spectacular dives. In the words of the great Nicholls “He’d had a couple of falls in France, and he was a bit stupid with his jumping. He was brave and silly”. He could so easily have been overlooked for the big time but a man who certainly knows how to pick his horseflesh, Clive Smith, decided he was worth his weight in gold and promptly purchased the exuberant young horse and installed him under the watchful eye of Nicholls.
Master Minded settled in with aplomb, showing his mettle on British soil for the first time by out jumping an entire field of seasoned hunt campaigners at the Handicap Chase at Sandown in 2008. He didn’t just win the race, he left them all in the dust, flustered and rather taken aback at the tenacity and cheek of the young interloper…..and a French one at that!
Even before he made his Cheltenham Festival debut in the same year, the bookmakers paid him one of the highest equine compliments by making him an 8-1 pick for the Rynair Chase and a 25-1 for the Champion Chase!
At Aintree he was beaten by his arch nemesis but a change in tactics seemed to have him wrong footed right from the outset of the race. Instead of gunning to the front, his jockey on the day held him back with disastrous results - he’s clearly a leader amongst steeds in more ways than one!
His current form is exemplary - he claimed effortless victories in the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown and then went on to win at Ascot, where his preferred jockey, Ruby Walsh, was back in the saddle again after taking time out for an injury. By the looks of things, there will be no stopping the brave young horse from claiming the crown of Cheltenham all over again!
