Cheltenham Festival News: Team Skelton's Nube Negra primed for "hot race" Champion Chase
Nube Negra was too good for Altior at Kempton
Dan Skelton's Nube Negra is a seriously good animal but it shows the depth of the 2022 Queen Mother Champion Chase that he is only fourth favourite for the Cheltenham test on March 16.
Dan Skelton reports Nube Negra in fine fettle for the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham but is under no illusions about the size of the task.
His eight-year-old was beaten just half a length in the "Queen Mum" last year and bounced back wth victory in Cheltenham's Shloer Chase in November.
Nube Negra wasn't at his best in the Tingle Creek at Sandown the following month, but has been kept fresh since and Skelton is expecting to see something approaching the real deal at Cheltenham.
"He's an outstanding looking horse and his work at home is always very good, which you'd expect from a two-miler," said Lodge Hill handler.
"He went to Warwick the other day. We didn't ask him any questions, it was just a day out.
"The most important thing with this horse is to have him super fresh. If you have him off the back of a run within a month, it's too close.
"He puts so much into his runs and his jumping - he just empties the tank."
In a thrillingly competitive Champion Chase, Nube Negra is only fourth best in the market at 10-1, which much of the pre-race attention focussing on a rematch between Nicky Henderson's Shishkin and the Willie Mullins-trained Energumene following their ding-dong clash at Ascot.
With Mullins currently cooing about Chacun Pour Soi, who was only third when a hot favourite at Cheltenham 12 months ago, Skelton acknowledges Nube Negra us up against it.
He said: "Shishkin is very good, Energumene is very good and if you listen to Willie, Chacun Pour Soi is better than Energumene, so it's a hot race.
"That's before you bring in Grade One winners like Greaneteen and others - who'd have thought Envoi Allen would be 20-1 for a Grade One this time last year?
"We're very happy with our horse and I can't do anything about the others.
"You hope for a clear round to get there, a clear round when you get there and what will be will be."
