Trainer Nicky Henderson landed his fourth Champion Hurdle when Punjabi upstaged his better fancied stablemate Binocular on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival on Tuesday.
Punters had latched on to Binocular, who despite his relative inexperience was sent off as the heavily-backed 6-4 favorite to win the hurdling crown under champion jockey Tony McCoy.
But Punjabi, third last year, held the upper hand in company with Celestial Halo rounding the home turn and despite an untidy jump at the last, the 22-1 shot stayed on stoutly.
In a thrilling finish the horse who is owned by one of Britain’s top divorce lawyers, held on under Barry Geraghty to win by a neck with Binocular, who had held every chance, only a head away in third.
For Henderson, who had to combine the respective skills of a nursemaid, psychiatrist and horseman when he was guiding his troubled, but brilliant See You Then to a Champion Hurdle hat-trick in the 1980s, the result was a walk down memory lane.
“It takes you back. Those great days of See You Then were very special and it’s nice to be back with horses that can do this sort of thing,” Henderson said. “Punjabi has always been a very talented horse and Barry [Geraghty] gets on very well with him. Both of mine have run tremendous races. It’s very special to see them both there, with Celestial Halo in between them. You think you have two chances and you’ve still got one to beat — a great race.”
Owner Raymond Tooth, whose reputation as a divorce lawyer is such that he is known in the corridors of British justice as “Jaws,” said: “It was like slow motion those last 100 yards. I didn’t think we were going to do it, but he’s hung on. He’s my first Festival winner, I hope there will be many more. He’s a fantastic horse. I’m sure I’ll wake up in a minute.”
It was a good day for the Irish with Go Native and Forpadydeplasterer both getting on the first day roll of honor.
Go Native earned a 33-1 quote for next year’s Champion Hurdle when lifting the opening Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Trainer Noel Meade missed out on the celebrations though, as he was at home recovering from a back operation.
Forpadydeplasterer did well to survive an early scare when favorite Tatenen fell directly in his path at the third fence in the Arkle Trophy, but man-of-the-day Geraghty kept his balance and the pair went on to hold off Kalahari King in a rousing finish.
The winner’s name comes from an incident in Ireland recently when a high profile individual was stopped by the Gardai (police) in possession of a hefty quantity of cash, said to be 50,000 euros (US$64,000).
Asked by the police who the money was for, the man replied: “Ah sure, it’s to pay Paddy my plasterer.”
That prompted the Irish Independent to headline their front page story of the affair the next day “Forpadydeplasterer.”
McCoy, out of luck in the big one, produced one of the rides of the season later when virtually lifting Witchita Lineman from third over the last to victory in the William Hill Trophy.
Trainer Jonjo O’Neill, a former champion jockey himself who rode Dawn Run to win a Gold Cup, said: “That is what McCoy’s all about — he was just magic, brilliant.”
Irish trainers eventually ended up with four wins on the day, with the successes in the last two races of Garde Champetre and Quevaga, both bred in France.
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