Boinville shines on Whisper in Coral Cup

Nico de Boinville and Whisper just saw off Tony McCoy on Get Me Out Of Here in a thrilling race for the Coral Cup at Cheltenham.

There was nothing between them up the hill, but it was Whisper (14/1), trained by Nicky Henderson and owned by Dai Walters, who prevailed by a short head.

Incredibly Get Me Out Of Here was filling the runner-up spot for the fourth time at the Festival including behind Son Of Flicka in this race two years ago.

Bayan was two and a quarter lengths away in third, with Smashing fourth.

De Boinville, who was riding his first Festival winner, said: "You can never be too sure (in photo-finishes) but I'm over the moon. I got a lovely position and he kept going all the way."

Henderson felt De Boinville's 5lb claim proved crucial.

He said: "When you've got a very good claimer, then it's obvious to try and use him. We stopped him (De Boinville) riding for a week because I needed his 5lb claim this week.

"It looked like Whisper had too much weight. I didn't think he could win off top weight, but he has. He deserves it, because he was beaten a nose in the Welsh Champion Hurdle. That was really annoying as he also went up 6lb for finishing second. If he'd been beaten a nose here then I would have really cried."

Walters said: "That's my first Festival winner and I'm lost for words - I'm over the moon."