• Klassical Dream is last, and drifts in Champions Hurdle betting• Battleoverdoyen wins Neville Hotels Novice Chase
Drying ground led to a long list of non-runners on the final afternoon of the
Christmas Festival here on Sunday but it proved very much to the liking of Willie Mullins’s Sharjah as he emerged once again from the shadow of a better-fancied stable companion to record a second successive win in the Grade One Matheson Hurdle.
Sharjah’s record now extends to three Grade One wins as well as a victory in the Galway Hurdle, one of Ireland’s most competitive handicaps, without starting as the favourite even once. In fact, he has not been the clear market pick for any of his last 15 starts, but he rarely gives anything but his best and around this tight, flat two-mile circuit, Sharjah’s best is very often good enough.