Espoir D’Allen was a surprising but emphatic winner of a drama-filled Champion Hurdle in which Buveur D’Air, winner for the last two years, was an early faller. The outcome is a breakthrough first Festival success for the County Meath-based Gavin Cromwell, a blacksmith by trade whose sideline in training has gradually taken over his life.
“I was behind Barry [Geraghty, Buveur D’Air’s jockey] when he fell,” said the winning rider, Mark Walsh. “Luckily, I wasn’t in his way. I was travelling everywhere. It’s unbelievable.
“I was riding for a place, to be honest. I was in front plenty soon. I heard a horse coming but I found out after the last it was a loose horse.”
Apple’s Jade started a well-backed favourite but it was immediately clear that she wouldn’t have things her own way as the Willie Mullins-trained Melon was sent to race alongside her from the ‘off’. She tripped over the second flight, was never travelling as kindly as when at her best and was being urged along from the top of the hill, eventually fading into sixth place.
Buveur D’Air, known for being low and slick at his hurdles, suffered the first fall of his career at an early hurdle in the back straight, bringing down Sharjah. The initial signs were that neither horse had sustained a significant injury.
It looked as though Mullins was in good shape, with Laurina looming up on the outside of her stablemate Melon at the home turn, but Espoir D’Allen cruised between them both and was in no danger after clearing the last. He eventually won by 15 lengths, with Melon holding onto second place from Silver Streak.
“He seems fine,” Nicky Henderson said of Buveur D’Air. “He thinks he won but unfortunately you have to have your jockey on board.”
“I’m in shock. It’s amazing,” Cromwell said of the biggest success in his training career.
“I was delighted to see the rain come this morning. He can go on any ground but I thought it might inconvenience some of the others. He’s kept improving through the year and I thought we’ll come here, he’ll learn something, we’ll learn something, and we could come back next year and maybe then win a Champion Hurdle.
“He’s been a very smart horse and the only day he was beaten was the day he was wrong.”
The winning owner is JP McManus, whose colours are also carried by Buveur D’Air. His Champion Hurdle record of eight wins is a record for an owner.