Harchibald breaks Cheltenham hoodoo

Harchibald’s dramatic defeat in last season’s Champion Hurdle faded in the memory as he made amends with a dominant display to take the totesport Bula Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Completing a big-race double for the stable which claimed the Robin Cook Memorial Gold Cup earlier in the day with outsider Sir OJ, Paul Carberry used exactly the same tactics that had seen Harchibald edged out by Hardy Eustace over course and distance back in March.

But with that rival not in opposition here and with another summer on his back, Harchibald did absolutely nothing wrong as he led on the run-in to beat Intersky Falcon by a length and three-quarters.

Faasel took third, a further five lengths away, confirming his Triumph Hurdle form with fourth-home Penzance.

As usual, Carberry had settled the 10-11 favourite at the back of the field in the early stages, but made steady headway through the pack down the hill and had only Intersky Falcon and Faasel ahead of him jumping two out.

Suddenly Tony McCoy punched Intersky Falcon clear and had a handy advantage swinging for home.

Faasel and Harchibald soon made up ground on the run to the last, although the market leader had the door shut on him as Intersky Falcon and Faasel came over to the rails with the runners jostling for position.

The stewards deemed McCoy to have been guilty of careless riding in that he manoeuvred towards the rail when not sufficiently clear and banned him for one day, December 21.

Not that it made much difference to the result as the Noel Meade-trained winner cantered up the centre of the track for an impressive success.

Meade himself was watching from Navan, from where he commented: “That was great after all of the stick he has got.

“I had a long chat with Paul last night going over the race and I also asked Tommy (Paul’s father) to talk to him to make sure he had plenty of confidence going into the race.

“He is an exceptional horse the way he can arrive there so easily as he doesn’t show that much at home.

“It is a long run from the second-last to the last at Cheltenham, which didn’t really suit him as he jumps so well.

“The race didn’t work out as we expected but we were happy to win.”

As to future plans, Meade continued: “Sandown is not ideal and I would love to run at Leopardstown, but it all depends on the ground. Sandown is different to Kempton (where he won last Christmas) in that it can get very tacky and gluey there.

“If all goes well from there I would also hope to run in the AIG Champion Hurdle before Cheltenham.”

Carberry added: “It was good for him to get a win here and he didn’t do anything wrong when he got to the front.

“I still got there soon but we’ll get it right one day!”

Bet365 stood alone offering 11-2 about Harchibald gaining Champion Hurdle retribution next March, Totesport’s offer of the same price having been hastily cut to 4-1. Coral and VC Bet came next at 5-1, while Paddy Power were shortest of all at 11-4.

Faasel’s trainer Nicky Richards said: “As Jim Ennis (his owner) just said to me, he is a boy against men.

“It is always very hard for these four-year-olds and we are certainly not disappointed to finish third.

“We will probably go to Haydock next for the Champion Hurdle Trial and then think about either coming back here for the big one or going over two and half at Aintree.”