As the world celebrated the turn of the Millennium, Istabraq had already won two Champion Hurdles.
The way he joined the hurdling greats by winning the Cheltenham Festival’s biggest hurdles prize for a third time in 2000 was, possibly, his best performance. Cruising along under Charlie Swan, he only had to be nudged out to beat Hors La Lois by a comfortable four lengths.
There could easily have been a record fourth victory, to match his quartet of Irish Champion Hurdles, if the outbreak of foot‐and‐mouth disease in 2001 had not caused the Festival to be cancelled.
Only four of his 23 jumps victories came this century but there’s no way Istabraq, probably the greatest hurdler of them all, can be left out of this list.
2. Sprinter Sacre