SUPA WIN AS IT ALL FALLS INTO PLACE

SUPASUNDAE landed a sensational Betdaq Punchestown Champion Hurdle on day four of the festival.

Trained by Jessica Harrington for Ann & Alan Potts Limited, Robbie Power’s mount (above) got the better of last year’s winner Wicklow Brave early in the straight and had three-and-aquarter lengths to spare at the line.

But the drama of the race came at the third last flight when unbeaten, odds-on favourite Samcro and Champion Hurdle runner-up Melon, both closing on front-running Wicklow Brave, fell independently and simultaneously.

Happily, both horses and riders, Jack Kennedy and Paul Townend, emerged unscathed from the bizarre incident.

It left Wicklow Brave in front pursued by eventual winner Supasundae, which came here on the back of solid seconds in the Stayers at Cheltenham and the Betway Aintree Hurdle.

“Maybe we got a bit lucky,” quipped a delighted Harrington.

“Obviously, he’s a two-miler and the trainer got it wrong all season.

“He got used to Robert switching him off over longer trips, but he was flat to the boards all the way today.

“He looked more comfortable when he met the rising ground and was upsides the other two horses when they fell. And we knew that he’d stay on – he just idled in front up the straight.”

Supasundae, a Galileo gelding and flag-bearer during a frustrating season for Harrington, was described as “a remarkable horse over two or three miles” by winning rider Power.