Azertyuiop profited from the lapse in jumping of his main rival Moscow Flyer to take the two-mile chasing crown with victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival on Wednesday.

The packed stands let out a collective sigh of disappointment as Barry Geraghty was catapulted into the ground over the neck of 5-6 favourite Moscow Flyer when the Irish challenger smashed his way into the fourth-last fence.

Azertyuiop met the obstacle on an almost identical stride, but Ruby Walsh's mount managed to put in a short extra step and fiddle his way over.

And with the only real danger in the formbook out of the way, Azertyuiop (15-8) was left with a seemingly straightforward task to take the £108,725 first prize.

In fact it was his recently-arrived stablemate Venn Ottery who briefly looked the biggest danger as he loomed up menacingly around the home turn under Timmy Murphy.

But as he dropped away, Flagship Uberalles - winner of this race two years ago - came out of the pack to get nearest to the winner, who galloped clear up the hill to win by nine lengths.

Tiutchev completed a one-two-three for former winners of the Arkle Chase, the race's novice equivalent, as he plugged on for third ahead of Cenkos and Venn Ottery.

But up front it was a one-horse race as Azertyuiop coasted home to silence the massive Irish contingent in the crowd.

For winning trainer Paul Nicholls, the result brought enormous relief after he had endured a torrid time of things during the first day of the meeting.

"I'm delighted he's won," he said. "It was a shame for Moscow and we'll never know what the result would have been, but that's racing. As long as the horse and Barry are all right then we can look forward to taking them on again. We had bad luck yesterday and good luck today.

"We felt he would take a lot of beating. We had him well. The season was all about today.

"Azertyuiop was nowhere near his best at Sandown when Moscow beat him. He's a horse who puts a lot into his racing. He needs to be really fit and he wasn't that day.

"Ascot did him good and he had a canter round Newbury, which also did him good. He won the best turned-out. I've never seen him look better and he was a credit to the team, getting him here A1 today.

"It has been tough until now. Ruby needed that. I needed that. It's a great result."

Nicholls, who was winning the race for the second time after the 1999 success of Call Equiname, could now consider the Queen Mother Celebration Chase at Sandown Park's end-of-season fixture - especially if victory in the £100,000 contest would help him secure his first champion trainers' title.

"Call Equiname was a handicapper who was a very good horse on his day, but this horse is something special," he said.

"He won't go to Aintree, but I suppose we might consider Sandown. We'll see how much I need the prize money at the time."

The decision will rest with the gelding's owner John Hales who, like Nicholls, was winning the race for the second time after One Man's victory in 1998.

Hales revealed that he had watched videos with Nicholls of previous runnings of the race when the pair met for dinner last week.

"We were trying to find out how to win the race," he said. "The other thing we discussed was the horse's future as you can't forget that he is only seven.

"When I bought him from Guillaume Macaire, he said 'You have got a great three-mile chaser', and I have always been tempted.

"Paul and I have reached a compromise. When he is nine and fully mature, I would like to start him off in the Peterborough Chase over two and a half miles and then think about the King George - after all, it was won by a two-miler (Edredon Bleu) this year.

"But this day next year will be the main target."

Hales was reluctant to be drawn into comparisons with One Man.

"I have been a lucky, lucky owner and I feel lucky to have had two such brilliant horses," he smiled. "But fate dealt us a funny set of cards with One Man.

"He won the fastest King George of all time and he really was a great three-mile chaser, but he also had enough speed to win this, which made him so special.

"However, I always remember Gordon Richards saying to me after he won this race 'We'll go up to Aintree and win there as well - it's another 80 grand in the bank'. One Man was killed in that race and I can't forget that."

Nicholls' position in the trainers' table was also buoyed by the performance of the fourth and fifth, Cenkos and Venn Ottery, the latter's show drawing him to say: "Venn Ottery ran a fantastic race.

"He's a horse with a lot of talent, if we can just sort his breathing out. If he progresses next year, we won't be too far behind them.

"If we can keep him and Oliver (Carter) under control, we'll be all right."

Away from the cheers in the winner's enclosure, a clearly-deflated Geraghty made his return to the weighing room, buoyed at least by the news that the horse was none the worse for the incident.

"Moscow Flyer galloped down to the fence, I gave him a squeeze and he paddled into it, as a horse can do when you're travelling at that speed," he said.

"The water jump - which we don't have at home - seemed to knock him out of his rhythm a bit and he just grabbed at the fence. It's a pity, but the horse is okay and so am I.

"The first thing I did when I got up was to check that the horse was all right and that will always be the most important thing. That clash is over, but he'll be back next year."

Bookmakers William Hill are clearly not expecting much opposition to the pair to appear in the meantime, offering 2-1 about Azertyuiop and 5-2 Moscow Flyer. Irish layers Paddy Power are slightly more generous in offering 9-4 about the new champion.

It is also far from impossible that in next year's race Flagship Uberalles could make his sixth appearance at the Festival by bidding to roll back the years.

The 10-year-old continues to run consistently well at the highest level and delighted connections with this effort.

"We were only hoping for third really, but he has run a good race," said trainer Philip Hobbs.

"He's been coming here since he was five and he's 10 now, so he is an absolute star.

"I suppose the obvious race for him now is the BMW at Punchestown, which he won last year, but he has also got an invite to Japan (for the Nakayama Grand Jump) and there is that to consider."

Tiutchev's jockey Tony McCoy paid tribute to his mount, who may now head to Aintree for the Martell Cognac Melling Chase over two and a half miles.

"He has run a blinder. You could not have asked for any more. He has finished second in a King George and now third in a Champion Chase. He's a grand old horse," he said.