There are two types of champions in this world, those who make it look easy to reach the top and those who struggle against themselves, circumstance, or talent. It is the latter who are typically lauded as the ‘people’s champion’ as most people can see a part of themselves in that struggle.
The racehorse Champ fits into this latter type. As his trainer Nicky Henderson said, you don’t give a horse a name like Champ unless you believe he has the potential to live up to the name.
But living up to that name has not come easy to Champ, best evidenced by his incredible performance at the Cheltenham festival in 2020. The champ was metaphorically against the ropes, almost falling at the second last fence and over eight lengths down jumping the last he somehow battled back to deliver a knock-out punch right on the line to win the race.
After winning such an important race for first season chasers it seemed like the world was at his feet. But life is never easy for some champions and the next few races saw the words ‘not fluent’ used to describe poor performances that included pulling up in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Back problems have since been identified as the reason for a few lacklustre runs, so last Saturday he was entered in a hurdle race to get his confidence back by jumping smaller obstacles. Of course, it wouldn’t be Champ unless he went on to storm to victory in a top class hurdle race that was only supposed to be a confidence booster.
Now the question is where does he run next? Suddenly he is favourite for the staying hurdle race at Cheltenham and can become the new champ of the long-distance hurdling division. This may suit him better, but you get the feeling this story has more twists to come and given his roller coaster career it may be that immortality still lies in the Blue Riband of racing, the Gold Cup.
Maybe he can’t jump as well as other contenders for the Gold Cup, either due to talent or back problems, but this is the adversity that all People’s Champions thrive on and perhaps the raw talent that inspired his name will somehow get him through.
The final decision on where Champ goes will be down to the trainer Nicky Henderson and the owner JP McManus, two people who know what they’re doing and always have the best interests of their horses in mind. If you’re a romantic you’ll be hoping it’s the Gold Cup while the hard nosed professionals will be backing him for the Stayers hurdle. Either way, hopefully he finds himself a champ at the end of the day.
Sport.dat 