Supasundae goes one better to let Harrington turn tables on old rival Henderson

For the second year in a row, great friends Jessica Harrington and Nicky Henderson became the fiercest of rivals in the climax to the Aintree Hurdle.

Twelve months ago, Henderson held bragging rights as the enigmatic L'Ami Serge got the better of Supasundae, but Harrington and her versatile hurdler gained their revenge in the £250,000 Betway-backed contest when claiming the prized scalp of dual Champion Hurdle hero Buveur D'Air.

The two heavyweight trainers have traded plenty of blows over the years but they always make up afterwards. They had another memorable duel that went in Harrington's favour when Jezki defeated the Henderson-trained My Tent Or Yours by a neck in the 2014 Champion Hurdle.

The winning margin was a little less painful on this occasion but Henderson was left to rue a missed opportunity to get Buveur D'Air back on track.

"Last year Supasundae was second in this race and one of Nicky's horses beat him and it's our turn this time," said Harrington. "It's great when Nicky wins and thankfully he thinks the same about me. Of course, there's a competitiveness between us, but we don't let it bother us – we just have another drink!"

Both horses arrived at Aintree with something to prove. Buveur D'Air let his crown slip with an uncharacteristic fall at Cheltenham and the usually dependable Supasundae trailed home seventh in the Stayers' Hurdle.

Harrington is still at a loss to explain Supasundae's festival performance, saying: "He just wasn't himself at Cheltenham, it was the first bad race he's ever run for me. I was completely flummoxed and have never been so disappointed. All I could put it down to was the very sticky ground on three miles.

"He hit a brick wall there and the great thing was Robbie [Power] sat up on him and we've been able to bring him back here. He's a marvellous horse and was great there and kept finding and finding. Two and a half miles is probably his ideal distance and he'll go to Punchestown, where we'll have to decide whether he goes over two miles or three."

Assessing the defeat of the 5-6 favourite, Henderson said: "He ran a great race and has done nothing wrong. It was a tough race, they had to see it out in that ground and I thought he stayed well. Tactically, it got a bit messy and Melon didn't help us when he fell. It gave Supasundae the run on us. He hasn't had a very lucky year."

Supasundae gave Power another Aintree moment to remember and the jockey said: "He's a very good, consistent horse who doesn't get the credit he deserves as people always make excuses for the horses he beats. He won two Grade 1s last year over two miles and has now won another over two and a half. He's a really likeable horse."

Power is one of an elite band of riders to have won the Gold Cup and the Grand National and he was crowned top jockey at this meeting two years ago with a big-race blitz of winners in the same colours of owners Alan and Ann Potts.

"I've been very lucky here and it's a great place to be lucky," he said. "The late Alan and Ann Potts were very good to me offering me the job and thankfully it has kept going in their memory."

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