Punchestown Festival:Solwhit beat Punjabi by a short-head to deny Nicky Henderson's charge a successful defence of the Rabobank Champion Hurdle at Punchestown this afternoon. The English raider looked favourite jumping the last as Sizing Europe suddenly dropped off the pace Davy Russell's mount dug deep to come out on top.
The Charles Byres-trained winner was sent off the 2-1 joint-favourite having won the Aintree Hurdle last month, and travelled well in the hands of Russell.
Sizing Europe was still seemingly full of running as he led the field into the straight but he was tackled by Punjabi and Solwhit on the run to the final flight.
The two of them settled down to fight out a fantastic finish on the run-in but it was Solwhit, tight against the rail, who took the spoils.
The Willie Mullins-trained mare Quevega was the other joint-favourite and ran with plenty of credit to finish third.
Brynes said: “That was a fantastic finish. I was very concerned at the fourth-last as he lost a bit of ground but Davy always felt confident.
“He’ll go on a break now and we’ll then bring him back for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham next year.
“I’ve never won a Champion Hurdle before so I don’t know what route we’ll take to get there, although I imagine he’ll stay at home in the build-up to Cheltenham.
“We took him over there last year for the Boylesports race (Boylesports.com International) but that was called off and he didn’t travel over there well.
“But he was fine when he went over to Aintree and hopefully that’s all behind him. He goes on any ground, he’s the best I’ve trained and this is just unbelievable.”
Boylesports cut the winner to 10-1 from 12-1 for Cheltenham and made the same price change for Punjabi.
Henderson was gracious in defeat and was delighted with the effort put in by his charge.
“He’s run a fantastic race and was coming back again at the finish. He coped with the ground and although it’s not his favourite surface, he showed he’s as tough as you get,” said the Seven Barrows handler.
“I’m not using the ground as an excuse and he’s fought for his life, but he can’t jump out of that ground as well as he can on a good surface. He just lost a little bit when he didn’t jump the final flight too well.
“It has been a tremendous season and that will be it for him now. He won’t have any Flat racing this summer and I will probably follow the same route as last year and start him off in the ‘Fighting Fifth’ Hurdle.”