Switch from chasing with Buveur D'Air proves a masterstroke

Events on this greatest of all jumping stages have caused us more than once to marvel at the mastery of Nicky Henderson, who one year on from his extraordinary revival of Sprinter Sacre again underlined why he is the most successful of all Cheltenham Festival trainers with another miraculous reinvention.

With the wonder that was Sprinter, Henderson, supported by an exceptional team at Seven Barrows, put together the pieces of a broken chaser, instilling within a sublime racehorse the lost self-belief he required to give us that day of days in last season's unforgettable Queen Mother Champion Chase.

On a much less enjoyable festival afternoon there were calls for the brilliant black beauty to be retired. It would have been the easy thing to do. Henderson knew he must do something different.

Something inside a man blessed with a rare understanding of racehorses told him Sprinter could come back. It was an intuitive, irresistible feeling.

So, too, was the deep conviction that Buveur D'Air should stop being a novice chaser and belatedly set off down the road that led to a breathtaking victory in the Stan James Champion Hurdle.

Twelve months earlier, wearing the colours of Jared Sullivan and Chris Giles, the French import had finished a well-beaten third to Altior in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, ridden by the owners' favourite jockey Noel Fehily. There followed an Aintree defeat of Petit Mouchoir, a private sale to JP McManus and novice chase wins at Haydock and Warwick.

All seemed well. Henderson, however, had nagging doubts. The rest, as they say, is history.

After a stunning four-and-a-half length annihilation of stablemate My Tent Or Yours, now a three-time Champion Hurdle runner-up, Henderson has overtaken Peter Easterby to become the race's winningmost trainer.

Buveur D'Air and Noel Fehily take the last on the way to victory in the Champion HurdleCredit: Harry Trump

He now has six triumphs in a contest in which the fragile See You Then completed a hat-trick before the tally was added to by Punjabi and Binocular. It is entirely possible the latest Henderson hero, reunited here with 41-year-old Fehily, is the best of the lot.

"I was always happy this was the right thing to do and it has worked on the day," said Henderson.

"He was going to be a good chaser but he'd had only four hurdles races in his life. There was unfinished business. We ummed and ahhed. After Altior went chasing Buveur D'Air followed him down that road, but then I thought, 'Hang on, we've got to be doing this wrong somewhere'.

"I felt there was room to come and do this. The decision was right, but all I've done is stopped My Tent winning a Champion Hurdle, which he so deserves to do."

There was absolutely nothing fake or false about Henderson's sympathy for My Tent Or Yours, who had also secured silver in the 2013 Supreme, nor his disappointment for Michael Buckley, whose Brain Power beat only one rival home having lost a shoe.

The leading lights begin to fight out the finish of the Champion Hurdle, with winner Buveur D'Air (left), runner-up My Tent Or Yours (fourth left, red cap) and third Petit Mouchoir (second left)Credit: Alan Crowhurst

Henderson speaks of horses as if they were people, displaying a fondness also synonymous with McManus, now a six-time Champion Hurdle winner himself.

"It doesn't get much better than this," said McManus – whose retained rider Barry Geraghty is sidelined – before being asked how Henderson persuaded him to change tack with Buveur D'Air.

"I can't remember what Nicky said, but he said it more than once," recalled the owner, who preferred the claims of his 9-4 favourite Yanworth.

Buveur D'Air: third in the Supreme last year and now a champion hurdlerCredit: Edward Whitaker

"Nicky was pretty insistent we should go back over hurdles. In the end I let him have his way. He seemed quite sure he wanted to give him a shot over hurdles, and that was before Faugheen and Annie Power became non-runners. He's a top man. You have to go along with what he says.

"I was delighted for poor old Tent as well. That's the fourth time he's been second at the festival. That makes it a great training performance from Nicky."

Henderson also hailed a great riding performance from Fehily, for whom the 5-1 shot travelled spectacularly well before sweeping past front-runner Petit Mouchoir approaching the final flight. Thereafter the six-year-old sprinted up the hill like a July Cup speedster to score with enormous authority.

A delighted Noel Fehily displays the silverware after his second Champion Hurdle winCredit: Patrick McCann

Fehily, aboard Rock On Ruby when Britain had last won the Champion Hurdle five years ago, received his trophy with children Michael and Niamh at his side. A parent does not have a favourite child, but this one may possibly have a favourite horse.

"I love him to bits," said Fehily. "When you ride good horses it makes you feel as though you want to go on forever. Obviously I've got more Cheltenham Festivals behind me than I have in front of me, but I enjoyed that."

So did Buveur D'Air's trainer. His latest Champion Hurdle winner's name translates from French as 'drinker of air'. Following another display of his genius, Henderson was entitled to enjoy something a tad stronger.

Stan James Champion Hurdle result