Hurdle leaves Henderson in seven heaven
THERE is no such thing as an easy penalty kick. Just ask Stuart Pearce or Gareth Southgate, who famously both missed vital attempts from 12 yards when playing for England.
Many punters and pundits went into yesterday’s Champion Hurdle thinking 4-6 favourite Buveur D’air had the racing equivalent of a shot from the penalty spot.
He’d not been beaten and hadn’t even been close to coming off the bridle in three races this season.
In the end, Barry Geraghty’s mount had to dig deep into his reserves to edge out the Willie Mullins-trained 7-1 runner-up Melon by a neck. It was a ding-dong battle up the exacting climb to the Cheltenham finishing post on the most testing Festival ground for over 30 years.
The JP McManus-owned sevenyear-old also gave trainer Nicky Henderson a seventh win in a race he first won in 1985 with See You Then. It was also the first leg of what would be an historic treble. No-one has ever trained the winner of the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup at the same Festival.
Henderson, who has now trained 59 Festival winners, has now landed leg one. He fires odds-on shot Altior, who has recovered from his sore hoof, at today’s Champion Chase and has favourite Might Bite to run in Friday’s Gold Cup.
But the Lambourn trainer said his overwhelming feeling after seeing Buveur D’air emerge on top after a furiously-run race, in which his stablemate Charli Parcs set the pace, was one of relief.
Henderson said: ‘He had a battle and did what he had to do. Once Barry said, “Come on, we’ve got to go”, he put his head down and he knew exactly what he was doing.
‘That was a proper race. I was just nervous they were going some pace. When the first two picked it up from two out, they kicked again off that pace. It may not have been a course record but I bet it was a course record on heavy ground.
‘You couldn’t believe they would keep it up all the way but they have. The second horse is probably a good horse — he must be.’
In the build-up, Henderson had voiced his concerns that Buveur D’air lacked a truly competitive prep race.
Geraghty admitted he had his own doubts. ‘I was concerned after we turned in, but the further up the straight I was going, the happier I was going, and I knew I could let Buveur D’air pop the last and fill up in the process,’ he said.
‘There was nowhere to hide. The ground made it the ultimate test. The best horse was going to win, and thankfully I was on the best horse.’
The pace set by Charli Parcs meant the Ruby Walsh-ridden 2015 winner Faugheen could not impose himself on the race but it probably made no difference, like the cheekpieces he wore for the first time.
His previous two runs had shown him to be a shadow of his peak self and he was easily brushed aside approaching the home turn before fading into sixth of the 11 runners.
Buveur D’air is now likely to head to Aintree’s Grand National meeting next month but the longer-term aim will be to emulate See You Then by trying to become a three-time Champion Hurdle winner — a feat also achieved by Hatton’s Grace, Sir Ken, Persian War and Istabraq.
Henderson said: ‘God willing, we will be trying. That will be the objective if we are lucky and we get back here next year.
‘There will be more young horses coming through I am sure but that’s what we will aim for.’
The preceding Ultima Handicap Chase had seen Coo Star Sivola cling on grimly to provide jockey Lizzie Kelly with her first Festival success.
The first woman to ride a Grade One winner in Britain when Tea For Two won at Kempton in 2015, Kelly was delighted after finding last season a difficult one, including when falling in the Gold Cup.
‘I came here today and it was like I’d grown up five years,’ she said.
‘I felt the pressure of course, we all do, but I was just pleased to be here. Last year wasn’t a great year, so I was just happy to be here. I felt relaxed and couldn’t wait to get to the start.
‘I had a dream ride, really. I knew he would gallop up the hill, but my goodness that was the longest hill in the world! It feels so surreal, it feels like I’ll wake up in a minute.’