'You don't always get what you expect' - Rock upsets Epatante in thriller

Saturday: Punchestown

Nicky Henderson admitted there was a very different outcome when Epatante and Marie's Rock worked together at Seven Barrows during the week, but on the track it was the lesser fancied and famed mare who completed her resurgent season in style.

Once upon a time Marie's Rock was three from three and ante-post favourite for the Mares' Novices' Hurdle at the 2020 Cheltenham Festival. A setback ruled her out of that and for a long time it looked like Henderson might never get her to fulfil that early potential.

Oh, we of little faith.

Henderson didn't just get her back, he made her better, and here she was following in the footsteps of the brilliant Benie Des Dieux in completing the Mares Hurdle double at Cheltenham and Punchestown.

"I thought she was very good two years ago," Henderson stressed. "But where she went on me last year I have absolutely no idea. I lost her completely but, luckily, she has come back to talk to me."

She has come back screaming at you, Nicky, and confirmed her Cheltenham success was no fluke whatsoever as she got down and dirty to grind out a victory over the ever enthusiastic Stormy Ireland who looked to have sneaked away from them all on the home turn.

3.50 Punchestown: Mares Champion Hurdle full result and replay

It was Stormy Ireland's last racecourse appearance, as she has already been covered by Blue Bresil, and she bowed out in typically tenacious fashion. It wasn't to be the fairytale final chapter of her racing career but her offspring will surely keep the story going.

Marie's Rock outstayed Stormy Ireland to score by a length and a quarter, with a half-a-length back to Epatante, who never really looked like justifying 4-6 favouritism for all that she wasn't beaten very far at all.

Henderson said: "Epatante proved she stayed at Aintree so coming here was the obvious thing to do rather than take on Honeysuckle. But I felt rather sorry for the Marie's Rock team that I threw a multiple Grade 1 winner in against her. It turned out to be the opposite.

"That's the game, you don't always get what you expect. They do quite a lot of work together, these two mares, and they worked together a few days ago. AP [McCoy] was with me when they did and we got a slightly different result the other morning, let me tell you. But, there you go, it's not always about what you see every morning."

He added: "It was a strong gallop and they set out to test Epatante's stamina which probably helped Marie's Rock, who definitely stays. She's got plenty of pace and she stays. If you put those two together with quite a lot of ability then you're probably in quite a strong place.

"Epatante has been on the go a long time, since the Fighting Fifth, and she's won three Grade 1s, and this filly has now won two Grade 1s, so it's a great season for both."

Marieâs Rock and Nico de Boinville winners of the Coolmore Kew Gardens EBF Mares Champion Hurdle (Grade 1) .Punchestown Festival.Photo: Patrick McCann/Racing Post0.04.2022Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

It has indeed been a great season for both and it has been a great career for Stormy Ireland, the 2021 winner of this race.

Paying tribute to her, Willie Mullins said: "She ran a cracker and I actually thought she had it stolen off the last bend. It just shows the class of Marie's Rock and Epatante, it was a hell of a good horse race.

"Danny [Mullins] gets on so well with her and the two of them just gel. They're a great team. She's been a great servant."

The best mare of the modern era wasn’t here. She was too good for this and made it 16 from 16 in the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle against the boys 24 hours earlier.

Honeysuckle’s task was made a lot easier by the absence of superstar novice Constitution Hill but Henderson insisted he made the right call and is looking forward to the showdown happening next season.

He said: "We'd have loved to have brought Constitution Hill over, but it wasn't the right thing to do. Maybe we will all meet up next year and sort it all out."

That will be something to savour, as was this Mares Champion Hurdle. A thriller in which Marie’s Rock completed her resurgent season.

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