'He was a horse of a lifetime' - Gordon Elliott leads tributes to three-time Grade 1 winner Sire Du Berlais

Connections of Sire Du Berlais have paid tribute to the three-time Cheltenham Festival winner by hailing him "an incredible horse" after his death at Punchestown on Thursday. 

The Gordon Elliott-trained 12-year-old was fatally injured just before jumping the third-last in the Ladbrokes Stayers' Hurdle, a heartbreaking final chapter to a career in which he won seven of his 34 races. 

The highlight of those victories was at the 2023 festival when he stayed on in typically determined fashion to beat Dashel Drasher and his better-fancied stablemate Teahupoo at odds of 33-1. He also won back-to-back Pertemps finals at Cheltenham in 2019 and 2020 under Barry Geraghty. 

Frank Berry, racing manager of owner JP McManus, said: "It's such a sad way for him to go. He loved life and he loved racing. He was an incredible horse over the years. He always kept a bit to himself and that was probably what kept himself at the top level for so long.

"We had so many great days with him, especially at Cheltenham, and he will be sadly missed by everyone."

Gordon Elliott: "He never knew when he was beaten"Credit: Sarah Farnsworth

Elliott said his stable was heartbroken to have lost one of its longest-serving servants, stressing he would never be forgotten. 

Elliott said: "He was a horse of a lifetime and a massive part of the Cullentra team over the last few years. He always used to come alive in the spring when he got sun on his back and he almost won at all three spring festivals last year. 

"He never knew when he was beaten and you saw that with the way he won the Pertemps final the two years he did, and in the Stayers' Hurdle as well. He loved a battle and he came out on top in plenty of big battles. He never let you down. 

"He was an amazing horse to have anything to do with and a pleasure to have around the place. We're devastated and it's absolutely heartbreaking to lose him. He was some horse."

He won more than £744,000 in prize-money and, as well as his three Cheltenham Festival victories, Sire Du Berlais also landed the Grade 1 Liverpool Hurdle at the Grand National meetings in 2022 and 2023, and the Grade 2 Lismullen Hurdle at Navan, and was a hugely popular horse among jump racing fans.