 Zaynar won the Triumph Hurdle at last year's Cheltenham Festival |
Leading Champion Hurdle hope Zaynar suffered a shock defeat in his warm-up for next month's Cheltenham encounter in the Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso. The Nicky Henderson-trained five-year-old went off as the 1-14 favourite under Barry Geraghty. But he found the determined Quwetwo, in his first run for almost 12 months, a difficult rival to get past. Even when Zaynar threatened to challenge on the home run, Quwetwo and Wilson Renwick kept going for the win. The first defeat over hurdles for Zaynar sees his odds for the Cheltenham race drift out to 8-1, with Solwhit now the 7-2 favourite but Henderson refused to panic. "These things can happen - it is a horse race," he said. "If the meeting had been off I was going to go straight to Cheltenham, so it is a good job it was on as he has had a right good blow in ground that wasn't for him. "That ground would find a lot of horses out. I knew it would be testing and they have been struggling to get home all day. "This doesn't change anything and we'll stick to the original plan.  | 606: DEBATE |
"Kelso have done a great job getting this on and I have no regrets about coming. "It is obviously disappointing as you would like to go to Cheltenham with his record intact and it does dent us." But Quweto's delighted rider Wilson Renwick said that trainer Howard Johnson had told him to make the race a proper test. "We thought Zaynar might get stuck in the ground a bit and I think he has. "Quwetwo's a lovely, big horse. He's not run for a while and he started to get tired in the final furlong, but he's tough and kept sticking his neck out. "I think he'll be a bit better on a sounder surface. He looks like a chaser and feels like one. "I could hear Barry (Geraghty) slapping away down the back, so he obviously wasn't travelling and I knew my lad would keep going. "I got a small breather into him at the third last, that was always the plan and kick on again at the bend."
Morebattle Hurdle (Kelso)
1. Quwetwo (W Renwick) 12-1
2. Zaynar (B J Geraghty) 1-14 Fav
3. Kempski (F Davis) 100-1
4 ran
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