- LONDON: Jockey Ruby Walsh, just back from a long injury layoff, won the showpiece race on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival after guiding 11-4 favorite Hurricane Fly to Champion Hurdle victory on Tuesday.
Hurricane Fly, trained in Ireland by Willie Mullins, battled gamely after the final hurdle to hold off the sustained challenge of Peddlers Cross who was beaten a length and a quarter. Oscar Whisky (7-1) was third.
Walsh, who also won the opening race on 10-1 shot Al Ferof, only returned to riding last week after four months on the sidelines with a fractured right leg.
Last year's winner and ante-post favorite Binocular was withdrawn from the race on Sunday on the advice of the British Horseracing Authority who said the horse would fail a post-race drugs test if he took part.
Binocular, trained by Nicky Henderson, had been undergoing treatment for an allergic reaction.