Champion Chase dream for Houlihan after Grade 1 breakthrough
Niall Houlihan was still trying to process the biggest win of his career on Sunday, but the 22-year-old conditional rider was daring to dream of another fairytale result with Editeur Du Gite in the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase.
ITV pundits Sir Anthony McCoy, Ruby Walsh and Mick Fitzgerald all heaped praise on Houlihan for his front-running ride in Saturday's Clarence House Chase at Cheltenham, and there was no disguising what the first Grade 1 of the rider's career meant when speaking the day after.
"It hasn't quite sunk in yet and I'm not sure it ever will but it's a great feeling and my initial thought was they can't take it off me now," said Houlihan, who was putting in a shift at Gary Moore's yard in West Sussex, where he is based, before four rides without success at Fontwell.
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