dodging bullets clinched glory in the betway queen mother champion chase at cheltenham for trainer paul nicholls winner of the tingle creek at sandown and the clarence house chase at ascot already this season, the seven year old was third in the betting at 9 2 for the two mile championship behind former winners sprinter sacre and sire de grugy dodging bullets travelled with zest throughout in the hands of sam twiston davies and loomed up ominously running down the hill dodging bullets (front) delivered a second winner of day two for jockey sam twiston davies  the front running special tiara and big outsider somersby made him work for it, but the nicholls runner   who was bred by frankie dettori   found plenty after the final fence to clinch victory somersby ran a tremendous race to fill the runner up spot, beaten a length and a quarter defending champion sire de grugy was under the pump a long way from home, while sprinter sacre, so brilliant in this race two years ago, did not jump well and appeared a shadow of his former self after stopping quickly from the home turn and being pulled up twiston davies and dodging bullets successfully clear a fence on their way to victory  twiston davies laps up the applause as he is led in after winning the queen mother champion chase  twiston davies said: 'what a horse, harry derham and the team have done a great job   harry rides him all the time wouldn't let frankie dettori ride him at home when he came down the other day, which says a lot 'i need to get my breath back, i'm shaking a bit! 'i missed two out a bit, i was almost going too well' nicholls said: 'that was absolutely awesome 'it's good for the owners and good for the team 'the progress he's made has been absolutely phenomonal 'he's got better and better' dodging bullets returned at 9 2 after landing the queen mother champion chase  twiston davies celebrates with the queen mother champion chase trophy  dettori said: 'sam gave him a fantastic ride he jumped like a stag 'he was meant to win a derby but this is second best 'my legs were shaking a little bit what a horse' nicholls went on: 'he should have been favourite on form 'i couldn't see why the other two (sprinter sacre and sire de grugy) were ahead of him in the market 'progressive horses usually come out on top 'we know where we are going with him now he's such a special horse' winning owner martin broughton said: 'the anticipation is almost too much, and when you get to the race itself, you just want them to come back safe 'all the way round i got more and more confident it was all going exactly to plan 'this is fantastic i'm absolutely ecstatic 'it's all been sprinter versus sire i'm happy under the radar' it was all smiles for the connections of dodging bullets  nicky henderson said sprinter sacre will be given a thorough check up before he can consider any notion of retirement for the former champion chaser henderson said: 'his heart is ok, which is the main thing 'he'll be scoped and then we'll know a lot more after that 'barry said he was a bit noisy going up the back and it sounds like it's something internal 'we'll scope him now there was a trace of blood after ascot, so you would have to be suspicious in that department 'once we've done the tests we'll let everyone know 'we've only just unsaddled and are trying to gather our thoughts 'i don't think we can make any predictions today as to the future 'if there's a switch we can find that gets rids of what is affecting him today, who knows' frankie dettori (second right) couldn't hide his excitement after dodging bullets' victory  mick channon, trainer of festival veteran somersby, said: 'he's been in great form, it was only really the race at ascot (clarence house) where he disappointed he has run pound for pound to his tingle creek form and run his race   i'm delighted for everybody' trainer gary moore felt a brisk surface counted against fourth placed sire de grugy 'the ground wasn't soft enough for him,' said the west sussex handler 'he showed at chepstow how good he was when it's deep, but on ground like this, he wants two and a half miles these days' henry de bromhead was thrilled with the effort of special tiara he said 'i'm delighted with that run, noel (fehily) gave him a super ride he got him filled up coming round home turn and coming to the second last he thought he might win, but then he just petered out 'to be fair he is better on a flatter track, but he has run a blinder and we are delighted 'he's a good ground horse and we will look at sandown or punchestown, whichever one dodging bullets doesn't go for' de bromhead also saddled former winner sizing europe, who was seventh, beating home mr mole he said: 'johnny (burke) didn't knock him around when he knew he was beaten i have thought about retiring him, but i'm not going to make any decisions until i have spoken to the owners 'the fact he has come back so many times just shows how he has stood the test of time'
ladies day 2015 sprinter sacre de grugy dodging bullets somersby barry geraghty a second of the day sam twiston davies the cheltenham festival
dodging bullets wins race on ladies day at cheltenham 2015  sprinter sacre and sire de grugy were fancied for the feature race  but dodging bullets beat somersby and special tiara  sprinter sacre, ridden by barry geraghty, was pulled up  the win was a second of the day for sam twiston davies  click here for all the latest from the cheltenham festival 