This meeting is fast turning into a gala performance by the double act of Irish champion trainer Willie Mullins and his British counterpart Paul Nicholls. Having seen Mullins, ably assisted by stable jockeys Ruby Walsh and Paul Townend, smash the home team on Tuesday with four winners headed by his Champion Hurdler Faugheen, it was Nicholls’ turn on Wednesday. He won the feature £350,000 Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase with Dodging Bullets as well as the Coral Cup with Aux Ptits Soins, both ridden by stable jockey Sam Twiston-Davies, and the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle with Qualando, the mount of Nick Scholfield. Dodging Bullets (front) delivered a second winner of day two for jockey Sam Twiston-Davies . With Mullins also landing the RSA Chase with Bryan Cooper-ridden Don Poli, the two dominant stables in jump racing have now won eight of the 14 Festival races run so far. Nicholls denied he had driven home on Tuesday depressed or frustrated having drawn a blank in the face of the Mullins’ mullering. But the mood for the journey home last night must have been some contrast. Almost amazingly, Dodging Bullets’ one-and-a-quarter length defeat of 33-1 shot Somersby was the first steeplechase Nicholls had won at this meeting since Kauto Star landed the 2009 Gold Cup. Back in third was Irish-trained front-runner Special Tiara but the big two — 2013 winner Sprinter Sacre and last year’s champion Sure De Grugy — blew out. Trainer Gary Moore and jockey son Jamie felt the ground had dried out too much for fourth-placed Sire De Grugy, who has endured an injury-plagued season while Sprinter Sacre, a spent force by the home turn, was pulled up before the last by his jockey Barry Geraghty. 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 . His trainer Nicky Henderson said there was no evidence Sprinter Sacre’s old fibrillating heart problem had affected his gelding and a scope examination showed no signs of a significant blood vessel break. However, the feeling was an old breathing issue might have re-surfaced. There will be no snap decisions but there must be a chance he has run his last race. Henderson said: ‘It is disappointing for everybody who has worked their socks off to get him back.’ The outcome once again showed how hard it is to come back and the result had echoes of the 2010 Gold Cup won by Imperial Commander when the focus was on the Nicholls-trained pair of Kauto Star and Denman. This time it was the turn of 9-2 shot Dodging Bullets, winner of this season’s Tingle Creek and Clarence House Chases, to be cold-shouldered in the build-up as the spotlight fell on the big two. And there to cheer him home was his breeder, three-time champion Flat jockey Frankie Dettori, looking like he should be part of Elliot Ness’s crew in his brown trilby and mac. He hoped he was breeding a future Derby winner when he sent the mare Nova Cyngi to the stallion Dubawi. He ended up producing the victor of one the season’s biggest jumps races. Dettori said: ‘I am only a small part in this amazing story but I am so pleased for Paul and the owners. I can say I have bred the best jumps horse of 2015.’ Dodging Bullets returned at 9-2 after landing the Queen Mother Champion Chase . Twiston-Davies celebrates with the Queen Mother Champion Chase trophy . The result was no surprise to Nicholls, who said: ‘He was the form horse. He beat Sprinter Sacre at Ascot and I couldn’t see how he could turn that around. With all due respect to Gary Moore, I also thought Sire De Grugy had it all to do. He has had a problem. ‘I can see the sentiment side of it but the progressive horse normally comes out on top. I was fairly confident I had them covered, Champagne Fever was the one I was getting worried about and he was a non-runner.’ Nicholls puts Dodging Bullets’ improvement this year down to greater maturity and solving a gastric ulcer problem, as he has with tomorrow’s Gold Cup favourite Silviniaco Conti. This success can only serve to strengthen both stable and punter confidence in his chance. Nicholls added: ‘We felt he was losing his way but couldn’t work out why. We found the gastric ulcer, treated for that, and like Silviniaco Conti he is a different animal. He won the best turned out award and it was as well as he has been.’ The results were also further vindication of Nicholls’s decision to hand the pressure job of stable jockey to 22-year-old Twiston-Davies at the start of the season, a move made earlier than expected when others threatened to sign him up. Nicholls heeded advice from former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson. ‘He said, “you don’t want the best striker in the league playing for another team.” Someone said Sam will last me until I retire. I don’t know if he will last that long but he is a good lad who will be part of the team for a long time.’ A bad day for Henderson was made worse when Rolling Star suffered a fatal injury in the Coral Cup. It was all smiles for the connections of Dodging Bullets . Frankie Dettori (second right) couldn't hide his excitement after Dodging Bullets' victory .
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 .