Quel Esprit 

Quel Esprit is the current favourite for the Centenary Novices Chase at the Cheltenham Festival 2011. Quel Esprit is a six-year-old French horse that was bred from Saint Des Saints and Jeune D'esprit (both France).

The Grey Gelding has enjoyed a mixed career in National Hunt racing to date and could be one of the longest priced favourites to ever win at the Cheltenham Festival with a current price of 10/1.

History of Quel Esprit

The history of Quel Esprit began on December 27 2008. Quel Esprit was entered in a 20 furlong race at Leopardstown and fought off a field of 16 runners to claim an impressive maiden victory.

Ruby Walsh took over as jockey of Quel Esprit for the horse's second career race at the Cheltenham Festival in 2009. Quel Esprit put up a good fight in a high quality field to finish fourth in the Champion Bumper.

Three back-to-back wins in 2009 followed the Cheltenham debut and confirmed that the history of Quel Esprit looked set to be long and impressive. These three wins at Punchestown and Cork were all over different distances (16f, 20f and 24f) and demonstrated the adaptability of Quel Esprit.

Willie Mullins Star Horses

Quel Esprit is one of the true Willie Mullins star horses for a variety of reasons. It's very rare for a trainer to have a horse that is so effective in different conditions and different races.

There are many Willie Mullins star horses because Mullins is an experienced trainer and is very successful in National Hunt racing. What makes Quel Esprit so exciting to watch is that the external factors don't matter and the horse has a method that any jockey can get used to.

Quel Esprit Wins

There have been a total of five Quel Esprit wins in the time the horse has been racing competitively. These wins have come over 16 furlongs, 19 furlongs, 20 furlongs and 24 furlongs.

The Quel Esprit wins have come at Leopardstown, Punchestown, Cork and Limerick. All of the Quel Esprit wins have come on different ground conditions that have varied from soft to excessively heavy.

Strengths of Quel Esprit

The main strengths of Quel Esprit are that the horse has a brilliant ability to adapt and a superb attitude. In all of Quel Esprit's wins the jockey has not had to battle with the horse but simply hop on board, sit in the field and then sprint for the line right at the end.

Consistency is one of the strengths of Quel Esprit that has made the Grey Gelding one of the Willie Mullins star horses. Adaptability allows Quel Esprit to run in a relatively similar fashion in every race and this produces reliable results.

Weaknesses of Quel Esprit

One of the main weaknesses of Quel Esprit to keep an eye on is the fact the horse hasn’t traditionally run well at Cheltenham. This could be an indication that big crowds distract the horse but Quel Esprit’s two races at Cheltenham have produced a fourth and sixth place finish.