Special Tiara upset the odds with Douvan proving a disappointment in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Special Tiara has won the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the feature race on day two of the Cheltenham Festival, upsetting the overwhelming pre-race favoruite Douvan, who was ran by Ruby Walsh.
The seven year-old gelding, who had never lost prior to the race, winning 14 races in a row, jumped a little too exuberantly throughout and Walsh could not find anything up the hill as his challenge faded away long before the final jump.
While Douvan was struggling, eventually finishing well down the field, Special Tiara, who led pretty well from the outset, kept on up the straight and just about fended offf the challenging Fox Norton by a head.
Winning jockey Noel Fehily, who won the Champion Hurdle yesterday said:
“Unbelievable. He’s such a great ride, he’s everything a two-mile chaser should be. He’s a very good horse."
With winning trainer, Henry de Bromhead saying:
“It’s an amazing day, I’m just so pleased for everyone involved.
“He seemed in great form coming into it, but it was hard to believe (could win) with Douvan and everything else – Douvan had looked so good.
“For our lad, he just tries his heart out and no-one deserves it more."
Douvan, having gone off at 1/4 could not follow Altior with a short price win yesterday and the result means Ruby Walsh and trainer Willie Mullins have still not had a winner at the 2017 Cheltenham Festival, with Ruby looking decidingly despondant after the race.
