Sir Alex Ferguson’s 25-1 outside Monmiral storms to victory in the Pertemps Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham… beating Kyntara in dramatic finish down the final straight

Sir Alex Ferguson was in the winners’ enclosure at the Cheltenham Festival when Paul Nicholls marked the week Monmiral chased Kyntara in the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle Final.

Racing in the famous yellow colors of Ferguson co-owner John Hales, the seven-year-old has always been highly regarded by those at Ditcheat.

Despite that, he was sent off at 25-1 at the hands of Harry Cobden, sporting blinkers for the first time as his title-seeking jockey patiently rode him.

Cobden put his mount into contention by going down the hill for the second time, but it looked like the bird had flown when the daring Kyntara, who was in the lead, sailed away in her bid to give Mel Rowley her first Festival success.

However, Monmiral still had a lot in reserve and emerged as Kyntara’s only rival in the finals before returning home to crush the long-time leader’s dreams.

The former Manchester United manager has three more runners on Thursday, with Protektorat running in the Ryanair Chase at 2.50pm.

Meanwhile, Il Ridoto is running the Festival Plate Handicap Chase at 4.10pm, where he will take on Harry Redknapp’s horse Shakem Up’Arry.

Ferguson praised Cobden.

‘This is fantastic, brilliant. What a jockey,” Ferguson told ITV.

‘Champion in the making? He has a chance. He’s my first winner here, but John (Hales, co-owner) is the master, he picks the horses and I support him all the way.’

When asked how a Cheltenham winner compared to winning the Champions League, he replied: “That’s a bit different.”

Meanwhile, Cobden could hardly believe the result.

“I can’t believe this horse won that,” he told ITV.

‘I checked the box this morning and I was 25-1. I thought it should be 125-1.