Energumene will not bid for a third Queen Mother Champion Chase after connections scratched the 12-year-old from the day-two showpiece at the Tuesday stage, leaving Majborough with the Champion Chase as his only remaining Cheltenham Festival entry.
The move strips a proven Grade 1 operator out of the division’s headline act and forces a sharper read on the Irish pecking order after Leopardstown. Energumene, a Champion Chase winner in 2022 and 2023, finished fourth behind Majborough in Sunday’s Grade 1 Dublin Chase at the Dublin Racing Festival, having travelled without his old zip when the tempo lifted and then coming under pressure earlier than his best days would have allowed.
It is a hard decision, but it is also a rational one. Energumene attempted to reclaim the crown in 2025 and went amiss mid-race, pulled up when the pressure came on. At 12, the margin for error narrows, and the Champion Chase demands repeated maximal efforts at speed, with no hiding place if a horse misses a beat at the wrong fence.
Energumene does hold Ryanair Chase entry
Energumene does, however, remain entered in the Ryanair Chase on day three, a race that can reward a horse who still jumps and travels but no longer wants a full-throttle two miles against specialist speed merchants. That entry keeps options alive without committing him to the most exacting test in the programme.
Majborough’s position is the opposite: total clarity. He was not left in the Ryanair on Tuesday, meaning the Champion Chase stands as his sole Festival engagement. After clobbering the Dublin Chase field and putting Marine Nationale in his place, bookmakers installed him as Champion Chase market leader, and the absence of Energumene only consolidates that status.
The next hard date is the Festival itself: Majborough now points straight at the Champion Chase on Wednesday, March 11, with no alternative route on the table.