There was a three way photo in a brilliant running of the William Hill Aintree Hurdle with Impaire Et Passe (evens favourite) called the winner.
The blue touch paper was lit in the home straight for the final time as Marie's Rock made a short-lived bid for glory only for the strong-travelling Impaire Et Passe and Bob Olinger to cover her every move.
Muscling his way in between them was the tough handicapper Langer Dan - stepping up to Grade 1 company for the first time - and he made the vaunted pair pull out all the stops in a rough finish that led to an enquiry being called.
Langer Dan and Impaire Et Passe opened up by a couple of lengths on Bob Olinger and the winner, with Paul Townend using his whip in his right hand, edged to his left leaving Langer Dan short of room against the rail. Despite that the tough as teak Coral Cup winner kept rallying while Bob Olinger, displaying his usual ungainly head carriage, found his stride after the last and joined the two protagonists.
All three runners came very close together in the run to the winning post and the slow motion replay suggested that Bob Olinger had his nose in front both before and after the line but there was only one place where it mattered and on the line itself, it was Impaire Et Passe with his head down and in front of his rivals.
The distances between the three were just a nose and a short-head with Bob Olinger confirmed as second and Langer Dan in third.
The stewards deliberated for some time before announcing that the places remained unaltered to the surprise of some observers and the delight of those who had rowed in with the well-backed winner.
It was a welcome success for Impaire Et Passe and connections having chased home Cheltenham Festival winners Teahupoo and State Man on his first two starts before a change to front-running tactics backfired in the Irish Champion Hurdle where he finished a well beaten third.
Winning trainer Willie Mullins said: “It was a long wait but I was pretty confident we’d keep it once I’d seen the overhead angle, I thought that gave us a great chance. When Paul and Harry (Skelton on Langer Dan) crossed after the last hurdle there was never any interference and I thought it would be hard to change it.
“On balance it was a hard result to change as Paul thought he was idling in front, which is a legitimate excuse. It will be interesting to hear how it went in there.
“This season hasn’t gone to plan so to get him back to win a Grade One and a race of this magnitude is pleasing but one thing I have to say is Rachael (Blackmore on Bob Olinger) probably gave hers the ride of the race, even though she didn’t win.
“He could go to Punchestown or we might think about France.”
Go another day
Trainer Henry de Bromhead was pleased with Bob Olinger’s run, although he felt his charge had been unfortunate in defeat.
He said: “He’s been brilliant all season and I’m delighted with the way he’s run today, it’s just a shame not to win but there we go. I thought we were unlucky to be fair, he got bumped at the second-last, crossed at the last and bumped after the last, but that’s the way the stewards looked at it and we just have to accept that.
“He ran a huge race and it’s brilliant to have him back. I would say it’s unlikely he’ll run at Punchestown, he has an entry so we’ll see, but that was a tough race.”
Dan Skelton was disappointed to see Langer Dan narrowly beaten on what was his first crack at top-level company.
He said: “I’m just gutted that he got beat, I want to to win on merit. We were coming to beat Impaire Et Passe and Bob Olinger was coming to beat us was how I felt. That’s sport, that’s life, we finished third and we’ll have another go another day.”
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