Sprinter Sacre dubbed the Pele of horse racing

Sprinter Sacre – the winner of yesterdays Queen Mother Champion Chase – has been dubbed the Pele of horse racing.

Barry Geraghty likened Sprinter Sacre to Pelé after guiding him to a crushing 19-length victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival.

The horse – the shortest-priced favourite at this year’s Festival – established himself as one of the finest steeplechasers of recent decades when winning the day’s feature event.

Making what was only his eighth start over fences, Sprinter Sacre outclassed his six opponents, including Sizing Europe, the winner of the Champion Chase two years ago.

Nicky Henderson’s seven-year-old remains unbeaten in chases, in which he has an aggregate winning margin of 114 lengths.

“He has such power and scope and that gives him the time he needs,” his jockey said.

“He’s like a top footballer, like Pelé on the ball, who used to do it all easily because his speed and power and skill gave him the time to do it.”

Henderson shed tears of relief once Sprinter Sacre, who started at 1-4, was safely past the final fence with victory assured. “We’re very lucky to have him,” said Henderson.

“Sometimes the crowd gets something special to watch and I hope today they have enjoyed watching him, although I don’t know if I did.

“He has an aura about him and he knows he’s good. He doesn’t hide it under a bushel or do anything by halves; it’s the way he lives. Barry enjoys it, the horse enjoys it and I hate it. But it’s fun afterwards.”

Sprinter Sacre may now attempt to extend his unbeaten record over jumps to nine races at the Punchestown Festival in Ireland next month.

“He’s had only three races this season,” Henderson said. “There’s a nice Grade One in Ireland and then he would have the summer off and come back and defend his title.”