Sprinter Sacre 1-5 for Champion Chase - who’s codding whom?

Ladbrokes — and some of their pals — have to be taking the pee, if you will excuse my French.

After Sprinter Sacre won at Punchestown on Tuesday, they installed Nicky Henderson’s superstar as a 1-5 shot for next year’s two-mile Champion Chase at Cheltenham.

Imagine quoting a horse at such a price about a race that was all of eleven months away.

Look, we know that the real Sprinter Sacre is currently competing in a division that is weak and is head and shoulders over all opposition right now.

But he’s a horse, not a machine, and at some stage will become vulnerable. Indeed, Punchestown revealed that he won’t always be able to stroll through his races and then head for home at his leisure when required to do so by Barry Geraghty.

Ladbrokes were almost joined by BetVictor and Bet365, who could only muster 1-4. They really are brave boys.

Paddy Power were a more realistic 1-2, but would anyone in their right mind want to take even those ‘generous’ odds about a contest that is so far away?

I mean this is National Hunt racing and anything could happen to Sprinter Sacre. He might be as lame as a duck one morning and, if staying perfectly sound, will still have to come through his prep races before Cheltenham.

And even if he arrives at the festival with all guns blazing, would then have to go and win the Champion Chase as well, before you could redeem your investment at a delightful 1-5.

At the moment there is no challenger to him, it’s as simple as that. But life is an ongoing process and you would never know what might come out of the woodwork from next October on.

Quite frankly these firms should hold their collective heads in shame and stop flashing around numerous e-mails and bits of paper, if all they are interested in is codding punters.

That aside it was terrific to see Sprinter Sacre at Punchestown, although you can bet your bottom dollar he will not be campaigned next season like the one that is about to close.

He went to Cheltenham and then Aintree and Punchestown was not a million miles short of being a step too far.

Testing ground or no testing ground, this was a flat enough display, given his extraordinary standards.

Most of us felt that this was going to be the best Punchestown festival ever and such thinking was absolutely correct.

While it was smashing that Sprinter Sacre came across, for me the undoubted highlight was Quevega in that Grade 1 hurdle over three miles on Wednesday.

Of course it was most disappointing that Solwhit had to miss the race, but the performance produced by Quevega was still quite outstanding.

To have been lucky enough to see both Dawn Run and Quevega can only be described as a privilege.

Looking to the future the horse to take out of the week had to be Willie Mullins’ Turnandgo.

The manner in which he exploded up the straight in Wednesday’s bumper really had to be seen to be believed.

A press-room colleague remarked on Tuesday that not so long ago Gordon Elliot would have been concentrating on Perth this week.

Well, those days are clearly gone and this is a trainer heading for the top - and at a rate of knots.

Elliott seems to be capable of producing a succession of young horses, with loads of scope, and if there is going to be a real challenger to Willie Mullins in the coming seasons then he is surely the most likely.

One of his winners at Punchestown, the highly promising Very Wood in a bumper, was partnered by Jane Mangan and she is some talent.

Jane then landed her first Grade 1, in another bumper, the following day for David Pipe on The Liquidator.

She had as big a disappointment as anyone could have suffered at Cheltenham, when Oscar Delta ducked out after the final fence in the Foxhunters, with the contest at his mercy.

But she took it on the chin, dusted herself down and has come back stronger and, arguably, better for the experience.

When she rides her first ever winner at that Cheltenham festival, I’ll guarantee there won’t be a dry eye in the house!

Ruby Walsh had a disastrous start to the meeting — things could hardly have gone worse the first day.

Champagne Fever ran like a hairy goat in a Grade 1 over flights and then Walsh was lucky to avoid serious injury when taking a horrible fall off Tennis Cap in a handicap hurdle.

His next ride was on Back In Focus in a Grade 1 over fences and I ran into him shortly before the race.

“What are you going to do on Back In Focus?’, I queried. “I’m going to try and stay on him,” was his response. And he wasn’t kidding either.