Yorkhill may be best bet to give Buveur a race after Faugheen shock

For the third day in a row Leopardstown's big races threw up more questions than answers, although sadly Faugheen's capitulation in the Ryanair Hurdle seems fairly final. Even the greatest champions can pick themselves off the canvas only so many times.

Ryanair Hurdle winner Mick Jazz deserves his day in the sun, for all it might have been expected to have come in minor graded company, and he is highly unlikely to be crowned the Champion Hurdle winner. The overwhelming likelihood now is that Buveur D'Air will retain his title, although the move by bookmakers to slash Yorkhill is probably a savvy one.

Willie Mullins will run the horse that gives him the best chance in the Champion Hurdle and it now looks as though that is Yorkhill, who was a Gold Cup prospect less than 24 hours before the Ryanair but is a horse of such rare talent he should not be discounted on that basis alone. On the day he would by right be half his current odds of 10-1.