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Champ denies Minella Indo a Festival double

A race of changing fortunes saw Champ snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the Grade 1 RSA Insurance Novices' Chase on day two of the Cheltenham Festival.
 
Connections of runner-up Minella Indo (3/1) possibly had reason to rue what might have been, as their seven-year-old - and previous Festival winner, having taken the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle in 2019 - made a costly mistake at the last fence.

That saw the formerly John Nallen-handled Dromahane point winner denied another Grade 1 prize by a length.
 
A somewhat shell-shocked trainer Henry de Bromhead said: "He ran brilliant and we just got nabbed. He did everything right until the last but just missed that one unfortunately - that may have cost us but who knows?"
 
"Take nothing away from the winner, and well done to Barry and all the team with Champ. An extraordinary finish really - it just shows what can happen here."
 
It was a second consecutive silver medal on day two of The Festival for jockey Rachael Blackmore, who said: "He ran really well but we just didn't get the jump I needed at the last."

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