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A titanic clash between Shishkin and Energumene is set to take place at Ascot on Saturday after the two-mile superstars were declared for the Clarence House Chase.
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The leading pair in our antepost betting for the Champion Chase will put their unbeaten records over fences on the line ahead of the Cheltenham Festival in March.
Our pundit Matt Chapman is backing Shishkin to annihilate Energumene but, speaking on the latest episode of our From The Horse’s Mouth podcast, Paddy’s trusty trader Frank Hickey reckons the Irish challenger has everything in his favour at Ascot.
Frank Hickey:
“This time last year I was saying Energumene was going to put Shishkin in his place in the Arkle and unfortunately we didn’t get to see it.
“Nothing’s been able to lay a glove on him over jumps so far in Ireland. I just loved the way he won at Cork in the Hilly Way. Notebook, with a run under his belt, tried to take him on and finished legless out the back. It shows how good Energumene is that he could go that hard, keep going and not stop. It was phenomenal.
“If he can’t win at Ascot against Shishkin I don’t think he can beat him in the Champion Chase at Cheltenham. Everything is in his favour to dominate this, like going right handed, the 2m1f trip, a small field… it’s all there.
He can put Shishkin to the sword before the straight.
“I’m as confident as you can be in a race like this. I can’t see either one hammering the other, but I fancy Energumene to do the business.”
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