Pizarro veers to victory for Irish

Pizarro retrieved an otherwise blank day for the Irish at Cheltenham with a dramatic win in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper.

Top flat jockey Jamie Spencer guided the 14 to 1 shot to a neck defeat of warm favourite Rhinestone Cowboy. But Pizarro veered sharply to his right a number of times and appeared to hamper the favourite more than once.

A stewards' inquiry was immediately called and the general consensus around the winners' enclosure was that Rhinestone Cowboy would get the race.

Spencer (21), a Group One winning rider on the flat (including the 1998 Irish 1,000 Guineas), returned to an unusually muted reception from the Irish in the crowd, who feared the worst.

It took almost 20 minutes for the result to be called, during which time Rhinestone Cowboy's trainer Jonjo O'Neill quipped: "Hail Mary!"

Pizarro's trainer Edward O'Grady, whose Cheltenham team was reduced due to illness in the run-up to the festival, also saddled the third home Back In Front and was more hopeful than most before the result was called.

"I thought the second nearly headed me again, even after the bump. But I've little doubt the best horse has won. The rules are different here compared to Ireland, and I don't even understand the rules in Ireland," he said.

There were roars of relief when the "result unaltered" announcement was made, and O'Neill and O'Grady immediately shook hands.

O'Grady has known Spencer since he was a small child. "I've known his family a long time and he went to school with my own kids. I thought it would be nice to give him the ride," O'Grady said.

The shortest priced Irish horse Alexander Milenium, bidding to give Willie Mullins a fifth win in the race, was pulled up on the run down the hill. The next best of the Irish behind the O'Grady pair was Supreme Developer in sixth.

Pizarro is O'Grady's 16th festival winner, making him the most successful current Irish trainer. The first came in 1974 with Mr Midland in the National Hunt Chase.