The eight-year-old had it all to do approaching the final fence, but thundered past both Allaho (5/2 favourite) and Minella Indo (3/1), defeating the latter by a length, with the Willie Mullins-trained favourite a further length behind in third.

Champ, ridden by Barry Geraghty for owner J P McManus, was named after former multiple champion jockey A P McCoy. The King’s Theatre eight-year-old was sent off at odds of 4/1.

Winning trainer Henderson said of Champ:

“He’s a horse with a wonderful temperament and attitude, and to be fair his fall [at Cheltenham on January 1] didn’t do that much damage. It was a horrible fall though. We really wanted to have another race but there was nowhere to go. He did have a racecourse school, and to be fair Nico [de Boinville] has done a lot of work with him, particularly in the indoor school, even yesterday morning he jumped half a dozen poles. Everyone has worked hard, it goes without saying, but Nico takes a lot of credit with this one.”

2.10pm RSA Insurance Novices’ Chase (Grade 1)

1 Champ (J P McManus) Nicky Henderson 8-11-04 Barry Geraghty 4/1

2 Minella Indo (Barry Maloney) Henry de Bromhead 7-11-04 Rachael Blackmore 3/1

3 Allaho (Cheveley Park Stud) Willie Mullins IRE 6-11-04 Paul Townend 5/2f

10 ran

Distances: 1, 1

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The Nicky Henderson-trained mare beat Davy Russell and Black Tears (12/1) by two and a quarter lengths, with Thosedaysaregone (10/1) a further two and a half lengths back in third.

This was winner number four for the English handler at the 2020 Festival and followed the victory of Champ in the Grade 1 RSA Insurance Novices’ Chase earlier in the day.

The J P McManus-owned, a seven-year-old by Lucarno, gave jockey Barry Geraghty his 41^st Festival success.

The Master of Seven Barrows said:

“You are getting into the realms of you don’t believe it. You certainly couldn’t believe Champ but this is a lovely mare. It’s always a very competitive race but she was very good. It wasn’t that headlong Coral dash with a lot of horses flat to the boards and anything could have won coming down the hill.

2.50pm Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle (Grade 3)

1 Dame de Compagnie (J P McManus) Nicky Henderson 7-10-12 Barry Geraghty 5/1f

2 Black Tears (Caren Walsh & John Lightfoot) Gordon Elliott 6-11-02 Davy Russell 12/1

3 Thosedaysaregone (Brynes Bloodstock Ltd) Charles Byrnes 7-10-11 Kevin Brouder (3) 10/1

4 Cracking Smart (Gigginstown House Stud) Gordon Elliott 8-11-11 Gavin Brouder (7) 33/1

25 ran

Distances: 2¼, 2½, 1¼

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2/1 favourite Epatante, a six-year-old mare, is the fifth of her sex to win the Champion Hurdle, and the first since Annie Power in 2016. She beat the Willie Mullins-trained Sharjah (16/1) by three lengths in what was a ninth success in the race for owner J P McManus.

Sharjah briefly threatened on the run to the last hurdle, while Darver Star (17/2), trained by 2019 Unibet Champion Hurdle winning trainer Gavin Cromwell, ran with huge credit to finish in third place.

The winner, Epatante, was unplaced in the G2 novice mares’ hurdle at The Festival last year, but Geraghty said: “She got lit up on the day last year, when we put the hood on her. She was keen at Exeter and we just felt that the occasion was going to light her up, so we put the hood on her. She ran with the choke out. We plugged her ears today – she settled lovely yet travelled sweetly. There are always a lot of decisions to be made in the run up to a race and thankfully, they went right, as they can often go wrong.”

3.30pm Unibet Champion Hurdle (Grade 1)

1 Epatante (J P McManus) Nicky Henderson & Barry Geraghty 2/1f

2 Sharjah (Susannah Ricci) Willie Mullins & Mr Patrick Mullins 16/1

3 Darver Star (SSP Number Twenty Two Syndicate) Gavin Cromwell & Jonathan Moore 17/2

17 ran.

Distances: 3, 3¾.

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