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Cheltenham Festival: Super Sprinter Sacre wins Champion Chase again

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Sprinter Sacre and Un De Sceaux

Ruby Walsh congratulates Nico de Boinville on Sprinter Sacre’s win

  PICTURE: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)  

 By Stuart Riley 3:34PM 16 MAR 2016 

Report: Cheltenham, Wednesday

Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase (Grade 1) 2m, 5yo+

HORSES are not supposed to make comebacks, but Sprinter Sacre is not a normal horse and proved that once again in the most emphatic fashion to mark himself as one of the all-time greats with a scintillating second win in the Champion Chase.

“Dreams do happen, it’s unbelievable,” said an emotional Nicky Henderson. “He has been a special horse and to come back and do that after all this time, it was worth the effort. I’d said if he and Tent [My Tent Or Yours] won I’d retire but luckily Tent got beat!”

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In 2013, when winning this race by 19 lengths, no-one would have doubted he would be winning the 2016 edition. But an irregular heartbeat seemed to have put paid to such ambitions. He overcame that problem and returned to the track, but looked a shadow of the horse who obtained a rating of 188 in his pomp.

The decision by connections to persist with him was heavily questioned, but two wins this season quelled such talk and he came in as the 5-1 second favourite. He won like a 1-5 shot.

No9 Sprinter Sacre - Nico de Boinville wiiner

Sprinter Sacre in full flight for Nico de Boinville

  PICTURE: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)  

Special Tiara set a blistering gallop, with the 4-6 favourite Un De Sceaux the only one capable of tracking him. At the top of the hill Walsh let out an inch of rein, and, much like Sprinter Sacre in his pomp, he asserted.

The favourite came down the hill with the gap increasing until the third-last. At that point Sprinter Sacre moved past Special Tiara into second, and then, shockingly, began to close on the leader. The speed with which he shut down the gap drew gasps from the crowd and as he hit the front rounding the bend they began to roar him home.

Two fantastic leaps sealed it and instead of Un De Sceaux doing his best Sprinter Sacre impression it was Sprinter Sacre who reminded everyone how a Champion Chase field could be spread-eagled.

De Boinville delight

“I’m speechless, he means so much to us,” said De Boinville, who came to prominence as Sprinter Sacre’s work rider. “Full credit to the guvnor we had a couple of desperate years with him. I knew I had to get upsides Un De Sceaux and see what he was made of.”

His weighing room colleagues were also full of praise and Walsh, who held on for second, said: “I didn’t have the speed on that ground. It was a special performance by the horse and Nicky,” while Mullins added: “It’s a winner for racing.”

Barry Geraghty, who rode Sprinter Sacre to his first Champion Chase win, said: “It was great to see, he’s been a brilliant horse for me.”

 

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