Horse-racing's big day at Cheltenham ends in tears

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Gallagher steals glory

Istabraq's reign ends in grief

Flagship ready to capture crown

Swan's devotion to an equine god

Butterfly lands the gamble

Alpha can give a lift to Pipe team

Johnson has eyes on place in history

It was supposed to mark the crowning glory of a great career but the Champion Hurdle ended in disappointment and tragedy for two horses at Cheltenham yesterday.

Istabraq, the most celebrated horse in Ireland, had won four consecutive races at the National Hunt Festival and the last three Champion Hurdles. It was hoped he would become the first in history to win the race four times, but he was pulled up with a minor injury to a hind leg after jumping only two fences.

While Istabraq will now retire to the Limerick stud of his owner, J P McManus, at the end of a racing career which produced 23 victories from his 29 starts over hurdles, there will be no peaceful retirement for Valiramix, another of yesterday's fancied runners.

On a day of dreadful fortune for the home champions, the trainer Martin Pipe and the jockey Tony McCoy, no moment was worse than when Valiramix fell after clipping heels with a rival as he approached the penultimate fence. The grey fractured a shoulder and had to be destroyed.

These incidents allowed Hors La Loi III to scamper up the hill to win the race by three lengths at 10-1 odds. Marble Arch finished second and the French mare Bilboa was third.