Gerri Colombe faces three rivals at Down Royal

It is a definite case of quality over quantity for the rearranged Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal.

Gordon Elliott has not shied away from running two of his stable stars, with Gerri Colombe and Conflated both part of the line up.

Gerri Colombe has been defeated only once in his career, suffering a narrow loss to The Real Whacker in the Brown Advisory at Cheltenham in March but he has passed every other test – including a seven-and-a-half-length success in the Mildmay at Aintree.

He makes his return for the campaign at Down Royal and Elliott is happy with how he has fared since he was last seen.

"It's his first run of the season. He didn’t do much wrong last year, he went from strength to strength," the trainer said.

"He looks strong, he’s in good form, he’s not a good work horse and doesn’t do anything very flash but he’s a typical big, staying chaser. He’s in good form and we’re happy with him."

Conflated, a nine-year-old gelding owned by Gigginstown House Stud, also enjoyed Grade One success last term when taking the Savills Chase at Leopardstown before finishing third behind Galopin Des Champs in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

His first effort this season was a beaten run at Punchestown in October but Elliott expects him to come on for that experience.

"Conflated was a Grade One winner last year. He’ll have come on from Punchestown and we’re really looking forward to running him," Elliott told Down Royal.

"He needed it badly. He’d been a little bit delayed after a setback and we said we’d give him a run to get him fit and you’ll see an awful lot of improvement in him."

Winter racing hits our screens with live coverage for the next five weekends, starting at Down Royal on Saturday. Live coverage starts on @rteone tomorrow at