Sprinter Sacre has starred on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival with a comeback success in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Nicky Henderson pulled off one of the great training feats to get the 10-year-old back to what could easily be a career-best after a series of problems since his 2013 triumph.
Ridden by last year’s Gold Cup-winning jockey Nico de Boinville, Sprinter Sacre beat the Willie Mullins-trained odds-on favourite Un De Sceaux by a comfortable 3-1/2 lengths.
“It’s been a long, long journey. Those were two very, very grim years,” Henderson said.
“That was unbelievable. That was about dreams, wasn’t it?
“He has been a very special horse. For those two golden years he was unbeatable.
“I said he couldn’t come back to his best, but maybe he has.”
After three Grade One wins on the opening day, champion Irish trainer Mullins and jockey Ruby Walsh hit back on Wednesday with Yorkhill (3-1) in the Novices’ Hurdle.
“He can go novice chasing, but we’ve sort of abandoned that to go down the Champion Hurdle route, Mullins said.
“He’s a real smart hurdler.”
Fellow trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies punched the air in delight as Blaklion (8-1) fought tooth and nail to see off the Mullins-trained Shaneshill in the RSA Chase.
Twiston-Davies hopes to bring Blacklion back next year for the Gold Cup.
“This is what Cheltenham is all about,” he said.
“When I went home on Tuesday (after the defeat of The New One) I’ve never been more miserable.”
Twiston-Davies also got the better of Mullins in the Champion Bumper (Flat race) as Ballyandy (5-1) held off Battleford by a nostril to give them a Grade One double.
