Special times for Henry de Bromhead as Douvan downed in Champion Chase

It is often said there is no such thing as a guarantee in horse racing and Special Tiara proved just that when creating a huge shock at the Cheltenham Festival as Douvan was downed in the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase.Having endured an unusually frustrating first day, Willie Mullins saw his disappointing meeting continue as the mighty Douvan failed to fire, in marked contrast to what he had done in last year's Arkle Trophy and the previous season's Supreme Novices' Hurdle.While the writing was on the wall for the Closutton handler's star performer - sent off a 2-9 chance to continue his love affair with the meeting - a fair way out, there were no such problems for Henry de Bromhead's Special Tiara, who had finished third in the last two renewals.A number of less-than-fluent leaps during the early stages of the two-mile contest set the tone for the odds-on favourite, and with his usual flair clearly missing by the time the field reached the third-last, his chance was all but gone.With Douvan out of the equation, it looked as though Special Tiara was going to face a battle from Tom George's pair of God's Own and Sir Valentino, but after a bad blunder at the penultimate fence from the former, it left Fox Norton as the principal danger.Although the Colin Tizzard-trained runner rallied in valiant fashion, it was not to be for last year's Arkle third, with the 10-year-old Special Tiara holding on by a head to gain the win his talents deserved.It was a further six lengths back to Sir Valentino in third. De Bromhead said: "He has been beaten a few times this year, but that was probably my fault for running him on bad ground. The drier it is, the better chance he has."Obviously we were coming here to try and pick up a bit of place money again. It's a horse race, but anything can happen and it just has.It's just incredible and very hard to believe at the moment. It's amazing, but no horse deserves it more." He added:"I'm delighted for Sally (Rowley-Williams, owner) as she is such an enthusiastic owner and loves her horses. Noel (Fehily) gave him a super ride. He is a legend. Sometimes he has a tendency to jump up in the air but he was really quick today in flicking through his fences. "I'd hate to think what I was saying or doing down there, it is pretty public as well. Normally I hide somewhere, but I don't know what I was saying. You can do that every now and again I suppose!"Douvan is a phenomenal horse and has beaten me many times before, I don't know what has happened today, but I'm happy our horse has benefited from it."Rowley-Williams never lost faith in her prized asset, enjoying his moment in the limelight.She said: "I'm so proud of him. He has come close a few times. He is really talented and he deserved this race. This is the first time since he won a Grade One at Aintree as a novice that he has had his ground."It was an amazing ride. Noel has ridden him a few times now and really knows him. He is a beautiful horseman. He was fantastic and gave him a lovely ride.I've never lost faith in him to be honest. I had complete faith in the horse, trainer, jockey and stable staff." For Fehily, the victory completed a memorable 24 hours having partnered Buveur D'Air to glory in the Champion Hurdle.He said: "I didn't think we'd beat Douvan, but I thought I had a great chance of being second. I got over the last and was surprised something hadn't come to me, but I knew he wasn't stopping."He has one way of running and that's flat to the mat and jump - I just let him get on with it.I've always loved two-mile chasers, the Champion Chase is the one you want to win. To win it is fantastic." As for Mullins, he expects the performance of Douvan, who eventually trailed home a well-beaten seventh, will likely come down to a physical problem.Mullins said: "He was clearly never going and I thought at the top of the hill he'd do very well to win.I'm assuming something happened when he put in those huge jumps, which I've never seen him do before.I imagine I'll find a physical problem with him."