Thistlecrack was notable for being the sole home-trained winner on Day Three of the Festival but his superb Ryanair World Hurdle victory would have been notable on any day.
The Colin Tizzard-trained star provided the perfect pre-Gold Cup boost to his stable companion Cue Card with a seven-length defeat of the Irish hope Alpha Des Obeaux in the Stayers crown and did it with something to spare.
Jockey Tom Scudamore never had a moment's anxiety throughout the three miles and even Alpha Des Obeaux's trainer Mouse Morris was moved to describe the winner as "a hell of a machine".
Thistlecrack looks set to be campaigned as such next season, with a tilt at the 2017 Gold Cup already in the pipeline for the eight-year-old. Some bookmakers are already going just 20/1 about that.
“I have ridden some very good horses but he is the best. How he looked was how he felt,” Scudamore said. “I spent my life running around in these races and now I finally have a horse like this. It is unbelievable. I never realised it would be so easy.”
Davy Russell’s day was less straight-forward. After being unseated from Zabana at the JLT start, the Cork rider picked himself up to win the very next race, the Pertemps Final, on the Pat Kelly trained Mall Dini.
Effort
He was determined not to let the Zabana incident ruin his enjoyment, but it looked an effort.
“It was a poor showing and I’m very disappointed for the owner and trainer,” he said. “There was no indication we were about to go and my horse was static. I needed to move him but when I pulled sideways he went away from the tape, ran into Bryan [Cooper] and there was only one route for me.”
At an enquiry the stewards reported they were satisfied the correct starting procedures had been carried out. Russell was also in front of the stewards after Mall Dini’s win. The winner appeared to drift across the runner up Arpege D’Alene in the closing stages. But no action was taken.
Winner of the four-mile National Hunt Chase in 2015, Cause Of Causes was always going to finish strongly in the Kim Muir Chase and so it proved as Jamie Codd’s experience proved invaluable in a fast race.
“I was never happy the whole way. I was hoping they’d gone too quick as he’s quite small and not the sort you can ask to make big jumps,” said Codd.
“But coming down the hill he came alive. Once I passed one [horse] I passed another six or seven in 10 strides. And in the end I was probably there too soon!”
Codd's fellow Wexford man, Colm Murphy has endured a relative barren spell compared to when he won the 2006 Champion Hurdle with Brave Inca and the 2010 Champion Chase with Big Zeb. But the glory days returned as Murphy saddled Empire Of Dirt to give Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown Stud and jockey Bryan Cooper a first winner of the week in the Brown Advisory Plate.
“He was hard on himself initially but this horse has really got the hang of it and seems to be enjoying himself now,” said Murphy.
Cooper added: “Colm always kept the faith and said there was a big day in him, so it was good we got a bit of luck.”
Gigginstown’s top novice, No More Heroes, had to be put down after sustaining injures in Wednesday’s RSA and sadly Niceonefrankie was the fifth horse to be euthanised at the Festival after a fall in Empire Of Dirt’s race.
