Banbridge pips Captain Guinness in a thrilling Champion Chase match

On the first day of the Punchestown Festival, Banbridge stood tall in the last stride to deny Captain Guinness a Champion Chase double. 

In the William Hill Champion Chase, nine horses lined up, with Mares’ Chase runner-up Dinoblue the 11-10 favourite to defeat the boys and give Willie Mullins his sixth straight win over the two-mile distance.

After overtaking the pace-setting Dysart Dynamo at the top of the home straight under Rachael Blackmore, Henry de Bromhead's Captain Guinness was hoping to build on his victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

Mark Walsh was more forceful in the saddle behind Dinoblue and while she did yield to pressure to close in on Captain Guinness at the last fence. Nevertheless, she was unable to get on terms.

On the final stretch, though, Captain Guinness was then reeled in by Joseph O'Brien's lightning-fast 6-1 shot Banbridge on the run-in.

For the first time on this shorter distance, the eight-year-old, who had struggled in a soft-ground Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham, was sporting cheek pieces. J J Slevin needed every yard of it to win first place by a neck, with Dinoblue a further length and a quarter behind in third.

“It was a fantastic race, a great two-mile chase, and a fantastic ride from JJ. I’m delighted for Ronnie (Bartlett, owner) and everyone to have a big winner here in Punchestown,” said O’Brien. “It wasn’t our day in Cheltenham but we’re delighted to win a big race here today. He’s been a fantastic horse and Ronnie’s patience through the autumn when the ground wasn’t right for us was really what won the race for us today. We were ready to run and had to wait. We know what conditions the horse performs on, it’s pretty obvious when you look at all his runs. On better ground, his runs are all very good – and when it gets softer, for whatever reason, he doesn’t perform as well. We took the chance at Cheltenham because it’s Cheltenham, but it didn’t work out. We freshened him up to come here and I’m delighted to win a big race with him.”

Bartlett added: “He’s a great horse, it was a great race and he was trained to perfection. It’s going to be a quiet night tonight, early to bed! Two or three out, you were thinking he’d maybe be placed, but he showed some turn of foot over the last.”