“My heart rate didn’t go above 80,” Tony Bloom, the owner of both Brighton & Hove Albion and Energumene, said after his horse’s second win in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and, while the poker-playing Bloom is used to betting under pressure, the same was probably true for most of the victor’s backers. From the moment he took over after jumping the third-last, there was only one possible winner and Energumene will have a leading chance to complete a hat-trick if he returns to the Festival next year.
By then, Bloom’s football team could be playing in Europe, as his transformative chairmanship over the last 14 years has put Brighton on course for their best-ever finish in the top flight. They also face Grimsby on Sunday in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, while Bloom hot-footed it away from Cheltenham after Wednesday’s race for a 7.30pm home kick-off against the team’s fiercest rivals, Crystal Palace.
