Nicky Henderson’s Punjabi took the ACCBank Champion Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival yesterday to complete an historic clean sweep of  feature race titles for British horses.

The win adds to those already achieved in the Kerrygold Champion Chase, Guinness Gold Cup and Punchestown World Hurdle. Race favourite Sublimity was beaten into second place by some clever riding from Punjabi’s rider Barry Geraghty, while Harchibald finished in third place.

Henderson’s racing team is still adapting to the absence of stable rider Mick Fitzgerald, injured at the Grand National earlier in the month. Speaking of Fitzgerald’s absence Henderson said: “This is the first big win we’ve had without Mick. But he’s still there helping the team and spoke to Barry this morning.”

Punjabi’s win has seen his 2009 Cheltenham Festival odds revised, and the racehorse is now priced under 15/1 by William Hill for the Cheltenham Champion Hurdle, a massive drop from his pre-Punchestown price of 33/1.

The 2008 Punchestown Festival concludes today with an eight race card, including the feature race, the Eventus Marquees Champion 4YO Hurdle. The race is expected to be a duel between Franchoek and Won In The Dark. The Ballymore Hurdle has also attracted a strong field, with Kalderon favourite to win the race.