Replay Review: Il Etait Temps Capitalises on Majborough Disaster to Win Queen Mother Champion Chase

The 2026 Queen Mother Champion Chase will be remembered chiefly for what went wrong for the odds-on favourite rather than what went right for the winner, but replaying the race in full provides a clearer picture of a genuinely impressive display from Il Etait Temps and Paul Townend, and a study in how badly jumping can unravel under Festival pressure.

The Market and Pre-Race Expectations

Majborough had been one of the short-priced favourites of the entire Festival meeting, sent off at 5/6 for the Champion Chase following a brilliant display in the Dublin Chase. Pre-race analysis pointed to potential concerns about his jumping at Cheltenham’s fences, which come thick and fast and test a horse’s technique differently to many other tracks. Those concerns proved well-founded.

Il Etait Temps, at 7/1, had the form to justify consideration, he had finished behind Jonbon and Il Etait Temps (the same horse) in the Tingle Creek earlier in the season, and carried the stable confidence of trainer Willie Mullins, who again opted for Paul Townend as his pilot.

Majborough’s Collapse

From the first fence, Majborough’s jumping was a source of anxiety. He made a slow start and was immediately on the back foot. What followed was described by Sporting Life’s timefigure analyst as a “succession of howlers”, a series of errors that compromised his position, disrupted his rhythm and ultimately took him out of contention long before the final bend. The replay makes plain that this was not a one-off mistake but a sustained failure of technique under the pressure of a strongly-run Grade 1 over the minimum distance.

For connections and punters, the most painful aspect was that Majborough’s flawed jumping had been a noted vulnerability throughout his career. His record away from tracks where he could get a clear lead and an even rhythm is significantly weaker than his headline form would suggest.

Il Etait Temps in Full Flight

While the post-race narrative centred on Majborough’s failure, Il Etait Temps put in a thoroughly professional performance. Townend settled him in a comfortable position in the mid-field early on, tracking the more prominent movers without expending unnecessary energy. As Majborough began to struggle and the field sorted itself out, Il Etait Temps began to move with increasing authority.

At the final bend, Townend produced his horse fluently with a well-timed run, and the winner met the last fence in excellent stride before clearing the run-in for a ten-length margin over 50/1 shot Libberty Hunter, who survived a first-fence blunder that nearly unseated Sean Bowen. The winning margin of ten lengths flattered the form, Libberty Hunter at 50/1 was a surprise runner-up, but the manner of the victory was controlled and convincing.

The Wider Field

Jonbon (Nicky Henderson, Nico de Boinville), sent off at a shorter price before Fact To File’s withdrawal from Thursday’s Ryanair, was not himself in the Champion Chase and was never a factor in the finish. L’Eau du Sud (British trainer) was another who failed to produce his best form on the day.

The result extended the dominance of Irish-trained horses in the Champion Chase, where Timeform subsequently awarded Il Etait Temps a timefigure of 151, a figure that Sporting Life’s Graeme North noted in his post-Festival analysis was “not quite what we’ve come to expect in recent years” from the race, partly attributed to the collapse of the market leader rather than the absolute standard of the performance.

Looking Ahead

Majborough’s connections now face a rethink. The horse remains highly talented on his best form, but two Festival visits have exposed the same jumping vulnerability, and the question of whether a technique that works at flat-fenced tracks can be adapted for Cheltenham may shape his programme for the 2026 – 27 season.

For Il Etait Temps, a Champion Chase victory confirms him as one of the leading two-mile chasers in training. How he is campaigned next season, whether back to defend or stepped up in trip, will be a story worth following.