Istabraq has been given the go-ahead to bid for a third consecutive Smurfit Champion Hurdle win at Cheltenham today but trainer Aidan O'Brien stressed it was a 'borderline' decision.
The eight-year-old's participation had been in doubt since he was found to have a trickle of blood in his left nostril after he had settled in at the racecourse stables yesterday afternoon.
O'Brien and his vet inspected the horse this morning and decided that Istabraq should take his chance in the centrepiece on the opening day of the Festival.
O'Brien said: 'It was very borderline whether he'd run but the Champion Hurdle only comes once a year and if it was a normal race, we probably wouldn't have had a go.'
The gelding had travelled by air from Shannon to Filton and completed the journey from the airport to the course by horsebox.
He will now bid to join a select band of horses such as Hatton's Grace, Sir Ken, Persian War and See You Then to have won the race three years in a row.
Owned by fearless Irish gambler J P McManus, Istabraq is long odds-on to complete the hat-trick having won 20 of his 23 career races over hurdles.
Before the injury scare, Irish bookmakers Cashmans and Paddy Power had believed that Istabraq was already past the post, having announced that they were already paying out on any ante-post single bets on the favourite.
