- Eighth victory in the race for trainer Nicky Henderson
- Fourth Champion Hurdle for jockey Barry Geraghty
Epatante was a comfortable winner of the Champion Hurdle, run on the 69th birthday of her owner, JP McManus, who has now had four consecutive winners of the feature race on the Cheltenham Festival’s opening day. Well supported from the night before and sent off 2-1 favourite, Epatante became an eighth winner of the Champion Hurdle for her trainer, Nicky Henderson.
Owner and trainer expected, at the start of the season, to be here with Buveur D’Air, the champion of 2017 and 2018, but he was injured in November and ruled out for the rest of the season. Epatante revealed herself as a likely successor in the Christmas Hurdle the very next month and built on that promise with a decisive success here over Sharjah and Darver Star.
Written by Chris Cook at Cheltenham
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/mar/10/epatante-wins-champion-hurdle-at-cheltenham-festival-horse-racing under the title “Epatante lands big gamble in Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham Festival”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
