Rooster Booster won the Smurfit Champion Hurdle in emphatic style at Cheltenham today. The grey raced clear up the hill under Richard Johnson and came home well ahead of outsider Westender with Rhinestone Cowboy, the 5-2 favourite, third.
Rooster Booster (9-2), trained by Philip Hobbs, is the first grey to win hurdling's premier prize since Kribensis in 1990.
In an eventful race, the drama began at the start where, after a long delay due to the runners' failure to form a line, last year's winner Hors La Loi III failed to start.
Intersky Falcon set off at a tremendous gallop with Irish mare Like-A-Butterfly in second place. Rhinestone Cowboy showed his inexperience by making a bad mistake at the second flight
Johnson steadily brought Rooster Booster into contention and sent him into the lead before the turn for home. The result was never in doubt from then on and he went on to win by 11 lengths from Westender with Rhinestone Cowboy a further three lengths back in third.
Filed by Laura Reynolds
