NICHOLS CANYON RUBBERSTAMPED his Champion Hurdle credentials with a battling win in the Ryanair Hurdle.
The 2/5 favourite was pushed all the way by an impressive Identity Thief but prevailed by two lengths in the final Grade 1 of this year’s Leopardstown Christmas Festival.
Paddy Power held firm at a price of 5/1 for the Cheltenham showpiece, making Nichols Canyon the second favourite behind reigning champion and stablemate Faugheen (8/11), and also cut Identity Thief from 20/1 to 12/1.
“He’s so tough,” winning trainer Willie Mullins told RTÉ afterwards.
“His battling qualities and his jumping qualities remind me of Hurricane Fly.
He probably hasn’t the zip of Hurricane Fly, the speed, but the stamina and the aggressiveness he has.
Ridden by Ruby Walsh, the win was the sixth Grade 1 of Nichols Canyon’s career.
“It takes two horses to make a good race and that’s what we had,” Walsh said.
“The loser was brilliant. He ran a blinder as well.
“(Nichols Canyon) has done everything that’s been asked of him and he’s going forward and improving.”
The day’s other Grade 1, the Neville Hotels Novice Chase, went the way of hot favourite No More Heroes (4/9 fav) in the hands of Bryan Cooper for Gigginstown House Stud.
Jessica Harrington’s Keppols Queen was the surprise winner of the Grade 3 Mares Hurdle at 14/1, coasting to an 11-length win over stablemate Rock on the Moor.
Leopardstown – Tuesday’s results
12.10 – 1. Clar na Mionn (14/1) 2. Bearly Legal (10/1) 3. Court Frontier (6/4f)
12.45 – 1. Acapella Bourgeois (6/1) 2. Space Cadet (4/5f) 3. Call It Magic (3/1 2fav)
13.20 – 1. Keppols Queen (14/1) 2. Rock On The Moor (5/1) 3. Morning Run (9/10f)
13.55 – 1. No More Heroes (4/9f) 2. Rule The World (7/1) 3. Monksland (10/3 2fav)
14.30 – 1. Nichols Canyon (2/5f) 2. Identity Thief (11/4 2fav) 3. Plinth (40/1)
15.05 – 1. Squouateur (11/4 2fav) 2. Archive (9/2) 3. Cliffside Park (33/1)
15.40 – Lucky Pass (4/7f) 2. First Figaro (9/4 2fav) 3. Jack The Wire (7/1)
