Brilliant Binocular rewards McCoy's faith with victory

Beaten into a disappointing third by stablemate Punjabi, a bullish McCoy said the JP McManus-owned horse would definitely make amends this year.

And so it proved.

The soon-to-be 15-times champion jockey is rarely wrong – his record 3,000-plus career winners speak for themselves – and his ecstatic ovation from punters was testament to McCoy's durability, unprecedented success and his ambassadorial work.

Now 36, he is normally reserved after each race. "They're all the same," he will say when asked to compare a Festival triumph to a maiden hurdle on a wet Wednesday at Wetherby.

But, for a man who has suffered more than his fair share of Festival torment, this was special; hence the waving aloft of his arms as he entered the winner's enclosure and the warm embrace that he gave winning connections after dismounting from his conquering hero.

All that was missing was a Frankie Dettori-like flying dismount – but that would have been taking it too far.

In a race that had to be seen to be believed, this was a remarkable Champion Hurdle.

It was McCoy's third triumph on the opening day feature, following Make A Stand and Brave Inca. It was a fourth for JP McManus who is McCoy's principal patron; his green and gold hooped colours were carried to victory three times by the legendary Istabraq.

And it was a fifth triumph for Nicky Henderson, after See You Then's hat-trick and Punjabi last year, and equals the record of the retired Yorkshire trainer Peter Easterby.

He had always said that Binocular would win a Champion Hurdle. He just was not sure about the year – and he certainly did not envisage, a matter of days ago, that it would be in 2010. After all, this is the horse which had so disappointed connections this season that he was "nine-tenths" withdrawn from the race a fortnight ago, according to Henderson, before a fantastic comeback which followed 10 days of care at McManus's stud in Ireland.

It is why Binocular enjoyed unusually long odds; punters simply did not know what to make of the haphazard build-up and most were still counting their losses after Dunguib's shock defeat in the Supreme Novices to Menorah, with that man McCoy a narrow second on Get Me Out of Here.

Sent off at 9-1, the champion jockey was confident throughout and he quickened right away after the final flight to beat Khyber Kim (7-1) with ease.

Zaynar, another of Henderson's three runners, was third at 15-2 for Malton jockey Andrew Tinkler after being prominent throughout. His young rider did nothing wrong, and he can expect further days in the limelight. Next year's Ladbrokes World Hurdle is a realistic target.

The major disappointment was Noel Meade's favourite Go Native, who travelled well for a long way but was beaten turning for home and missed out on a 1m bonus.

Another Irish raider Solwhit, who had scoped dirty at the start of last week, was also well beaten – along with the aforementioned Punjabi.

"It hasn't been an easy passage. When he was beaten last year, we said he'd come back and AP said he would win it," said a relieved Henderson. "He deserved it."

The last word went, quite rightly, to McCoy.

"When I schooled him last week it was the first time he has hurdled like we know Binocular can – like a champion hurdler," he said. "This is better than any feeling I have had from the horse.

"It's hard to win here. This is everything."