Leopardstown: Market gets it spectacularly wrong as Mouchoir blows rivals away

For much of the four days and 28 races of the Leopardstown meeting, the market was the most reliable guide but it got it spectacularly wrong in the Grade 1 Ryanair Hurdle, the feature on the final day of the Christmas Festival, as Petit Mouchoir belied a spectacular drift with a performance which put him firmly in the Champion Hurdle picture.

While Henry de Bromhead had been amongst the winners at Limerick and in Kempton, his previous runners at Leopardstown had not been performing to expectation, and that may have contributed to him going off 6-1 (10s on Betfair), having been as short as 5-2 in the overnight market.

This fellow was quite the opposite, as he produced a career-best effort which saw him dictate throughout and then quicken clear of odds-on favourite Nichols Canyon in emphatic fashion. In front and going well until falling at the third-last in the Fighting Fifth, at Newcastle, it was ample compensation for connections, and relief for the winning trainer.