No joy for Mullins and Macaire as Wildriver scores for the Davids

Prix Alain du Breil (Grade 1 Hurdle) | 4yo | 2m3½f

Willie Mullins challenge suffered a blow before the start when Triumph Hurdle runner-up Mr Adjudicator was withdrawn by the stewards, while Saglawy and Msassa faded from contention as Wildriver sparked rarely-witnessed scenes of unbridled joy in the Auteuil winners' enclosure.

Ridden by unheralded jockey Benjamin Gelhay for a trainer in Mathieu Pitart who has only held a licence for six months, Wildriver held off the Guillaume Macaire-trained duo of Tunis and Master Dino to score a famous success.

Gelhay was involved in the early education of the filly but was replacing the injured Nicolas Gauffenic, who steered Wildriver to success in the Group 3 Pepinvast when granted a long lead by his rivals.

Like all the connections of Wildriver, Gelhay is based outside Lyon at Chazey-sur-Ain and he said of the victory: "It's unique. We all bump into each other every morning and know one another well so it's just huge.

"It means a lot because, while everyone loves to follow the big stables, buried away in smaller yards like ours there are plenty of jockeys that are capable. It's great that the favourites don’t always win."

Mr Adjudicator: wasn't allowed to run due to passport problemsCredit: Patrick McCann

Mr Adjudicator was refused permission to run because of an irregularity with his passport, while the remaining Mullins challenge was undone by a lack of pace early on.

Danny Mullins jumped off in front aboard Msassa but David Mullins soon had to let the very keen Saglawy stride on.

The pair were unable to figure at the finish, leaving their trainer to reflect: "Ours jumped well but they were both too keen."

Result, replay and analysis

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