NICKY HENDERSON suffered a second Champion Hurdle blow as his leading light Zaynar was turned over as the 1 to 14 favourite in the Victor Chandler Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso yesterday.
Just 24 hours after last year’s third, Binocular, was ruled out by a muscle problem, Zaynar was displaced as the ante-post favourite following his length defeat by the enormous Quwetwo.
Henderson and his stable jockey, Barry Geraghty, made the long trip from Lambourn for what should have been a simple schooling session rather than a bruising defeat by a potential chasing star of the future.
A severe overnight frost left conditions glue-like and Geraghty was giving out distress signals well before he squared up to Howard Johnson’s Quwetwo at the penultimate flight.
Try as he might, Zaynar could not get on terms and the diminutive grey was left to suffer his first defeat over timber.
William Hill doubled his odds for the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle – for which he will have cheekpieces reapplied – and lengthened him out to 8 to 1 while Coral go 6 to 1 from 7 to 2.
Henderson said: “If the meeting had been off after the inspection I was going to go straight to Cheltenham, so it is a good job it was on as he has had a right good blow in ground that wasn’t for him. This doesn’t change anything and we’ll stick to the original plan.
“Barry said he was even taking a blow down the back and this isn’t March 16th. Kelso have done a great job getting this on and I have no regrets about coming. It is obviously disappointing as you would like to go to Cheltenham with his record intact and it does dent us.”
Meanwhile at Clonmel, Quiscover Fontaine had an easy time of it in the Powerstown Chase.
He had just taken the measure of the front-running Whatuthink when that one departed two out and from there on the French-bred Emmet Mullins-partnered six-year-old had no problems in beating Swift Counsel by seventeen lengths.
Quiscover Fontaine was completing a double for the absent Willie Mullins. He had earlier landed the two-and-a-half-mile maiden hurdle with Some Target.
Winning owner Brendan Doyle explained: “Willie was giving a eulogy at the funeral of Ronan Lawlor. He grew up with Patrick and Emmet and they were in the same class at National school. He was a close friend.
“Quiscover Fontaine jumped brilliantly. Emmet said he is improving and loves this game. He is in both the Arkle and SunAlliance and knowing Willie he’ll keep him in both.” Willie and Emmet also took the following race with The Midnight Club.
