Top jockey Paul Carberry enjoyed the perfect tonic on his comeback from injury – winning the feature race on the third day of the Festival, writes Jonathan Herbert.
He tuned up for his ride aboard Monbeg Dude for Gloucester Rugby players James Simpson-Daniel and Mike Tindall in tomorrow's Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup by landing the Ladbrokes World Hurdle, robbed of reigning champion Big Buck's through a season-ending injury.
After being cleared to ride by the racecourse doctors, Carberry overcame a shoulder injury sustained on Tuesday to power Solwhit to victory for trainer Charles Byrnes, swooping past Celestial Halo after the last to win by two and a half lengths.
"I got a bang on the left shoulder the other day, it just hurt my ligament and tendons," said Carberry, himself a replacement for Davy Russell, who has been sidelined with a punctured lung.
"I had a couple of shots in it yesterday which didn't work, but my own doctor, who is very good, came over this morning and gave me an injection and it worked.
"Charles said I should sit sixth or seventh and attack at the last. He said that it wasn't that he didn't think Solwhit would stay but that I should come with one run at the last.
"I switched inside coming down the hill and I had to switch him back because I didn't want to use him up to get in front of the horse in front of me.
"Celestial Halo was on my outside coming down to the last and I was able to use him a bit to keep my horse going because I knew he would idle a bit if he got to the front. He jumped the last and kept going.
"The English horses have been dominating this race for a long time and there was also the French horse Baracouda, so it's great to ride an Irish winner."
Byrnes said Solwhit would be back to defend his crown at next year's Festival when he could clash with Big Buck's, who had won the race for the past four years.
He said it had been a huge team effort to get him ready for the race yesterday, having been forced to miss it last year through injury.
"We never lost faith in him," he said. "In the past he was one of the few horses who could put it up to Hurricane Fly. He developed a bit of heat in a leg and though we tried to get him back for last season, we weren't happy with him so we eased off and left it another year.
"We always believed he still had the old ability and today he's proved it."
