The doubters were silenced, the champ reigns supreme and the road to history is wide open. Everything in the world of Istabraq is as it should be.
Boomaker reaction to the great horse's majestic victory at Leopardstown yesterday was to go as low as 2 to 5 on him recording a fourth successive Smurfit Champion Hurdle win at Cheltenham on March 13th. Public reaction verged on idolatry.
The signs of their worship were everywhere. The crowds around the pre-parade ring where Istabraq was saddled were at least four deep. The depth of the crowd around the parade ring could be nearly be measured in fathoms.
Among them were fans wielding "Istabraq" scarves, just a fraction of the five busloads who had travelled from the South Liberties GAA club in Limerick, and who turned the number one spot into a miniKop.
Aidan O'Brien seemed to sense the idolatry too and he tried desperately to inject some caution into the wildly euphoric scenes in the winner's enclosure.
"I think it must be next to impossible for a horse to get to Cheltenham in one piece for five years in a row," the trainer warned, although nobody appeared to listen. No trace of doubt was permitted, and such was Istabraq's brilliant bounce back to form it was hard to blame anyone. Istabraq started a 4 to 11 favourite and waltzed home from Mantles Prince with the 50 to 1 outsider Penny Rich in third. The result caused mayhem among the 11,190 attendance.
Everyone successfully forgot how the pre-race rumour mill had been fanned into such an inferno that earlier in the day few would have been surprised if the horse had been accompanied by someone ringing a bell and shouting "unclean".
"The rumours were obviously wrong," grinned rider Charlie Swan, 33 on Saturday, who confessed to some irritation with the rumour train. "The phone never stopped ringing but the horse and the trainer did the talking."
Istabraq's owner J P McManus was showered with congratulations in a thronged parade ring and said: "I'm very pleased and very relieved. I don't know where these rumours start but Aidan wasn't worried and that's who I listened to."
O'Brien, for his part, tried to joke them away and said: "Rumours don't mean a lot to me. But I hope there are plenty of them when we get to Cheltenham!"
And all things being equal, Cheltenham looks a date with history for the remarkable Istabraq. Never before has a horse won four Champion Hurdles. Istabraq's festival record also takes in the 1997 SunAlliance Hurdle, and he will travel to England on the back of a fourth successive AIG Europe Champion Hurdle.
Throw in how yesterday's £66,500 first prize takes the nine-year-old well past the £1 million mark in career earnings and the huge Leopardstown crowd could assure themselves they were watching something special.
There was certainly no hint of the fatigue that led to Istabraq's dramatic last-flight fall over the course and distance on New Year's Eve, and those rumour mongers who helped the Paddy Power firm offer an overnight 11 to 10 price on Istabraq for Cheltenham might wish to steer clear of their offices for a while.
Only 1 to 2 is now generally available for the March festival, with the nearest rival in the Cheltenham ante-post market, Geos, as long as 9 to 1. The worrying thing for all rivals is the note of bullishness that even O'Brien couldn't prevent escaping from his lips.
"The time off we've given him seems to have made him even stronger and he's probably better than he's ever been. We've trained him very cautiously this season because we want him to peak at the right time," O'Brien said.
"He's heavier than he's ever been. He only lost four kilos from his last race whereas other runners we had that day lost almost 20. But Charlie had been very happy with how he went up until the fall. If Charlie had got negative vibes from the run I would have been worried," he added.
J P McManus confessed to always suffering from anxiety when his star runs but added: "Istabraq is just that little bit different to every other horse. He's special."
