Doom Bar Aintree Hurdle |
|
| Grade 1, Aintree 15:25 £250,000 added, 4yo plus, 2m 4f, Class 1  |
|
| Thursday 4th April 2019 | |
1 Supasundae 15/2
2 Buveur DAir 5/6F
3 Ch'tibello 14/1
7 ran NR: Brain Power, Verdana Blue
Distances: 1¼l, ½l, 31l Time: 5m 10.00s (slow by 27.00s)
Supasundae shows heart and no little class to land the Betway Aintree Hurdle. Three-time Grade 1 winner! pic.twitter.com/AB1wxkyycL
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) April 4, 2019
The Jessica Harrington-trained Supasundae captured the £250,000 G1 Betway Aintree Hurdle in attritional conditions at Aintree.
Ridden by Robbie Power, the nine-year-old son of Galileo kept on gamely in the closing stages to deny favourite Buveur D'Air, trained by Nicky Henderson and partnered by Barry Geraghty, who was hampered by the fall of the Willie Mullins-trained Melon three flights from home.
Supasundae was second in the two mile and four furlong event in 2017 and 2018, so Harrington was delighted that the gelding had finally landed the G1 event.
She said: "We didn't come into this race with Supasundae with great confidence after what happened at Cheltenham. That was the first bad race he ran for us and I just don't know what went wrong there. All I could put it down to was sticky ground and he just didn't like it.
"However, today he kept coming back and finding for pressure. This trip is probably his best as he doesn't seem to get three miles.
"Supasundae's been second in this race twice and it was great for him to finally win today.
"He will definitely go to Punchestown. I will make up my mind at some point about whether he goes over two miles or three miles, but he'll be put in both races."
Power, who won Champion Hurdles of his own on the nine-year-old in Ireland last year, at Leopardstown and Punchestown, said: "Supasundae is very tough. He has won three G1s now and never gets the credit he deserves.
"He is just a really good horse, but he races lazily and does nothing flashily. Even at home he wouldn't beat an 85-rated horse, but he's very consistent and has run one bad race in the last two years, and that was at Cheltenham last time.
"Jessie was giving out about him after that, but he will always pull one out the bag, this fella. I was actually quite comfortable turning in. Buveur D'Air looked flat to the boards and I was flat to the boards to be fair, but I knew Supasundae would keep finding."
Power has enjoyed tremendous good fortune at Aintree over the years, for it was his Grand National win on Silver Birch in 2007 ythat put him on the map and he enjoyed a Grade 1 treble at the meeting two years ago, in all three of them wearing the same Ann & Alan Potts silks carried by Supasundae.
He added: "I was disappointed when Melon fell because it left me in front way too soon, and he does not do a stroke in front this lad. I know he won two Grade 1s over two miles last year but this two and a half miles is probably his ideal trip. The ground was a bit soft in Cheltenham and the strongly-run three miles was a bit far for him."
Doom Bar Aintree Hurdle (Grade 1)
£250,000 added, 4yo plus, 2m 4f, Class 1
7 ran
Going: Soft
| Pos | Dist | Horse SP | Jockey Weight | Trainer | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Supasundae 15/2 | R M Power 11-7 |
Mrs J Harrington | 9 | |
| 2nd | 1¼ | Buveur D'Air (FR) 5/6f | B J Geraghty 11-7 |
N J Henderson | 8 |
| 3rd | ½ | Ch'tibello (FR) 14/1 | Harry Skelton 11-7 |
D Skelton | 8 |
| 4th | 31 | Summerville Boy (IRE) 25/1 | J J Burke 11-7 |
T R George | 7 |
| 5th | 10 | Silver Streak (IRE) 25/1 | Adam Wedge 11-7 |
Evan Williams | 6 |
| PU | Faugheen (IRE) 4/1 | R Walsh 11-7 |
W P Mullins | 11 | |
| F | Melon 8/1 | P Townend 11-7 |
W P Mullins | 7 | |
| WN | Brain Power (IRE) | Aidan Coleman 11-7 |
N J Henderson | 8 | |
| WN | Verdana Blue (IRE) | Nico de Boinville 11-0 |
N J Henderson | 7 |
