Iconic Festival Moments: Istabraq's third Champion Hurdle

No horse since the brilliant Istabraq has managed to win the Champion Hurdle three times since he completed his hat-trick in 2000.

He became the fifth to do so in the race’s near hundred-year history, and achieved a Timeform rating that season of 180. That too is something that hasn’t been equalled, let alone bettered, since, though Constitution Hill is currently within touching distance of reaching a similar level.

Earlier in this series, we covered the 1979 Champion Hurdle which came during a period when there were several top-notch two-mile hurdlers regularly competing against each other, whereas Istabraq lacked any serious rival capable of giving him a race, at least over two miles, when he reigned supreme as the champion hurdler.

The ease of many of his victories made him hard to pin down as far ratings were concerned, though as Chasers & Hurdlers observed ‘in three runnings of the Champion Hurdle, where it should not be possible for a horse to win with such ease, or advisable for his jockey to try to do so, Istabraq has nevertheless remained demonstrably in a class of his own.’

Charlie Swan was Istabraq’s jockey in every one of his races over hurdles and delayed his retirement to continue partnering Istabraq – ‘as good a preparation as any for an increasing number of hours spent in the armchair’ as the same publication put it.

Even before Istabraq had begun to write his own chapter in Champion Hurdle history, he registered a first Cheltenham Festival success in the 1997 Royal & SunAlliance Novices’ Hurdle, a harder-won victory, it turned out, than any of his Champion Hurdles proved to be. In fact, when he won his first Champion Hurdle a year later – his tenth victory in a row – he equalled what was then the record winning margin of twelve lengths.

His second Champion Hurdle was gained in less extravagant fashion – by three and a half lengths, when for the third year running his stablemate Theatreworld took the runner-up spot – but, unbeaten in seven starts that season and odds on each time, he remained unquestionably much the best hurdler around.

But on the way to contesting his third Champion Hurdle in 2000, Istabraq had suffered only the third defeat of his career over hurdles. The other two reverses had come on his hurdling debut, and in the 1998 Aintree Hurdle when he’d gone down by a head to a Tony McCoy-inspired Pridwell. In the latest season, the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle was the race which saw Honeysuckle’s unbeaten record finally ended, and it was in the same contest that Istabraq was turned over. He’d already won the Hatton’s Grace twice by then, though his Aintree defeat had also come over two and a half miles in testing conditions.

A shock though it was – Istabraq started at 1/7 – in the grand scheme of things his defeat to Limestone Lad, a top-notch hurdler in his own right but best at two and a half miles plus, was not a disaster. Limestone Lad was simply given too much rope at Fairyhouse, and Istabraq, yet to be brought to peak fitness by Aidan O’Brien at that stage of the season, couldn’t reel him in.

Anyway, on his next start Istabraq won the December Festival Hurdle at Leopardstown by fifteen lengths, the widest-margin win of his whole career, and then had Limestone Lad back in fourth in a ridiculously one-sided Irish Champion Hurdle which he was winning for the third time.

A third Champion Hurdle for Istabraq at Cheltenham looked such a formality that some Irish bookmakers paid out ante-post bets on Istabraq before the race had been run, though there was still time for some last-minute drama which put Istabraq’s participation in doubt.

The evening before the race, after his arrival at Cheltenham, a trickle of blood had been detected coming from one of Istabraq’s nostrils. It was too close to the race to scope him, but the hope was that it was nothing more than a nosebleed rather than something more serious and a decision to run was taken only hours before the race.

The 2000 Champion Hurdle might have been widely considered a one-horse race – Istabraq was sent off at 8/15 despite that scare – but there were still eleven rivals for him to beat. The chief British hope Dato Star, whose wins earlier in the season included the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and Christmas Hurdle, was Istabraq’s closest rival on form but needed ground softer than good to produce his best – the fact that the course record was broken in the Arkle earlier on the card showed that, on the contrary, conditions were on the firm side of good.

Nonetheless, Dato Star was next in the betting on 9/1 along with the novice Stage Affair, joint-owned by race sponsor Dr Michael Smurfit, though he’d been no match for Istabraq when runner-up at Leopardstown last time. As well as Theatreworld joining Istabraq from Ballydoyle again, the field included a future Champion Hurdle winner, Hors La Loi III, runaway winner of the previous season’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, and a former winner, Make A Stand, returning from nearly three years off the track.

Make A Stand shot into a clear lead in a repeat of the tactics which had won him the race in 1997, showing much more enthusiasm than Theatreworld and one of the outsiders Balla Sola who were slow to jump off, the latter effectively refusing to race. Istabraq had his first two Champion Hurdles won from some way out but, no doubt mindful of his nosebleed, Swan delayed his challenge until later in the race this time, by which time Make A Stand had been swallowed up by the main field.

Shaken up to move into second on the inside approaching the home turn, Istabraq was a greeted by a roar from the grandstand when he came back on the bridle entering the straight. Still with 16/1-shot Blue Royal ahead of him at that stage, Istabraq touched down just in front over the last and quickly drew clear, having four lengths to spare over Hors La Loi III who caught Blue Royal for second.

So it was that Istabraq joined Hatton’s Grace, Sir Ken, Persian War and See You Then as a triple Champion Hurdle winner and became, at the time, only the fourth member of an even more select band of horses to have won at four consecutive Cheltenham Festivals alongside Golden Miller, Arkle and Persian War.

The obvious question after his third Champion Hurdle was could Istabraq become the first to win a fourth? The bookmakers were taking no chances, having him only at a shade of odds against to do so. In the end, it wasn’t so much that he failed to do so but that he was denied the opportunity when the 2001 Festival had to be cancelled because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Weeks earlier, Istabraq had landed odds of 4/11 when winning the Irish Champion Hurdle for the fourth time, the penultimate victory, it turned out, among his 23 successes over hurdles from 26 completed starts. He did get another crack at the Champion Hurdle, in 2002, but it had been a struggle to get him there and he was pulled up after just two flights.

Istabraq was retired to owner J. P. McManus’s Martinstown property where it was great to see him in the tweet below just last week, at the ripe old age of 31 but clearly still in good health. The last word on Istabraq should go to his essay in Chasers & Hurdlers 1999/2000: ‘Champion hurdlers are, by definition, out of the ordinary and Istabraq is now well out of the ordinary among champion hurdlers.’

More from Sporting Life

• Racecards
• Fast results
• Full results and free video replays
• Horse racing news
• Horse racing tips
• Horse racing features
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Football and other sports tips
• Podcasts and video content

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org