Geraghty triumphs in a cut-throat duel

Jockey lifts day's big prize in a contest full of peril and thrills

When the sun sets a rainbow upon the sky you know it must be raining somewhere nearby, and the entire emotional meteorology of Cheltenham could be charted here yesterday in the yards dividing first from second in the unsaddling enclosure. Nicky Henderson, who had just set a Festival record and would end the day with four winners, must have taken in the scene of muted spring sunlight as through some sepia of instant nostalgia. Perhaps as many plaudits were owed, however, to Henry De Bromhead for his dignity and sportsmanship in defeat. For if the occasional perils of their sport have been horribly reiterated over the first two days of the meeting, the Queen Mother Champion Chase showed how it can also summon the best and bravest in men and horses alike – and not just during the race.

In one of the most dramatic contests of recent Festivals, the reigning champion and his young challenger had jumped the second last together and settled down to contest supremacy with all the rapt fervour of stags tangling antlers. Their riders were no less consumed, and it was only as he looked up to measure Sizing Europe's approach to the critical final obstacle that Andrew Lynch saw the flag man. The fence, he suddenly realised, would have to be bypassed.

On its far side, Richard Johnson lay behind the green screens that always tell of some macabre predicament. To the horror of a crowd that included a sweetheart of their younger days, in Princess Zara, Johnson had taken a heavy fall from Wishfull Thinking on the first circuit. For a few, terrifying moments, after his mount had rolled through the plastic rails, the spectators gathered there must have feared that he might run amok. A photographer was injured; Johnson, meanwhile, could not be moved.

It is a measure of these men that Johnson, later found to have suffered only "soft-tissue" injury, hopes to ride on today's card. But it was a time for cool heads among those left to contest what is always, over the bare two miles, the most frantic steeplechase in the calendar. Lynch yanked his right arm and Sizing Europe, who had seemed to be gaining the upper hand, bore towards the wings of the fence. Only now, as Finian's Rainbow was dragged sideways, did Barry Geraghty appear to perceive the crisis.

Briefly, he seemed to be forcing Lynch back inside the wings of the fence, urging that it had to be jumped. In the end, Lynch was only just able to squeeze between the wings and his rival, and unmistakably lost momentum. By the time they settled back down to resume their duel, Geraghty had the initiative. Though Lynch regrouped so frantically that he would earn a six-day ban for his use of the whip, Finian's Rainbow had gained impetus and reached the post with just over a length in hand. It was another 15 back to Big Zeb.

"The sun was in our eyes coming off the final bend," Geraghty explained. "I didn't realise that we had to go round it until Andrew started to move out and take me with him. They didn't seem to have dolled off the whole fence and there was plenty of room to jump half of it. If Andrew had jumped, I'd have gone with him."

That admission raised the spectre of a disqualification that would have compounded the sport's moral challenges at this meeting – Featherbed Lane yesterday became its fourth fatality – with downright derision. It is not just Geraghty, then, who stands in Lynch's debt. Surely markers can be feasibly deployed, in these situations, to spare jockeys all doubt.

As it was, those present could instead celebrate two trainers: Henderson, for one of the great days of individual achievement in Festival history; and De Bromhead, for manifesting his own brand of class. "These things happen, in this game," he shrugged. "We were eventually beaten fair and square, even if things didn't fall the way you would have liked through the race."

That traced back, as much as anything, to the moment Wishfull Thinking left the favourite in front so soon – but De Bromhead also accepted that the late detour might have cost him the race. "Andrew is gutted," he said. "He had to make a more exaggerated move than Barry, absolutely. He had hugged the inner, which was great, but it would have helped had the fence been there to jump. When you're in front, you need something to aim at."

No doubt the two horses will be given the chance to settle the matter for themselves, on another day, though the bookmakers already have Sprinter Sacre hot favourite to beat them both this time next year. Henderson could not have dreamt that his sensational young chaser had merely set the tone, on Tuesday, for the rest of the meeting. He now has the leading novice chaser over three miles, as well, after Bobs Worth saw off the game challenge of First Lieutenant in the RSA Chase.

Grands Crus had started hot favourite, and Tom Scudamore settled him nicely behind a steady pace before closing down the hill. But his attempt to challenge between Geraghty and Davy Russell did not seem kindly received, and the way the grey then dropped out into fourth suggested some physical or mental discomfort in consequence.

Both Finian's Rainbow and Bobs Worth had been beaten in their rehearsals at Ascot. "But that's what Nicky does so well," Geraghty said. "He knows exactly how to get them right for the day that really matters. The two horses have been coming together beautifully in their work at home."

Next on the carousel is Simonsig, who proved utterly dominant in the Neptune Investment Novices' Hurdle and palpably has the speed to drop back in trip should Henderson fancy a crack at the Champion Hurdle next year. Despite having won that race on the Festival's first day – from his satellite yard – this has so far proved a trying meeting for Paul Nicholls. Now that so many of the emerging stars are clearly corralled at Seven Barrows, the champion trainer will be looking to his laurels.

Tip table: Our experts

Each day during the Festival, our panel of experts predict their 1-2-3 for the day's big race - at the end of the week we will have a tipping champion. They earn three points for predicting the winner, and a point for each horse coming second or third. A correct 1-2-3 will earn 10 points. And this top mark was earned by fine tips from Hyperion who was spot-on in yesterday's Champion Chase.

1. Finian's Rainbow

2. Sizing Europe

3. Big Zeb

Winners; 2nd/3rd; Pts

Hyperion 1; 3; 11

James Corrigan 2; 2; 8

John Cobb 1; 3; 6

Chris McGrath 0; 5; 5

James Lawton 0; 4; 4

Sue Montgomery 0; 3; 3