Paddy Power Chase

J.P. McManus saw his colours carried to victory in this €200,000 spectacular for the third time in four years as Auvergnat translated his quality cross country form to the white-hot competition of one the most keenly contested handicap chases of the season.

A first winner of the race for Enda Bolger, Auvergnat won this year’s La Touche Cup but a couple of unplaced efforts over hurdles in recent weeks meant that he was allowed to go off at 28/1. This made him the longest priced of the eight McManus-owned runners but he made light of his position in the market with a decisive triumph under Donie McInerney.

CHAMPION CONDITIONAL

The latter, who was crowned champion conditional rider last season, was enjoying his biggest success to date and this victory was entirely appropriate on several fronts.

Firstly, McInerney was achieving this success for a trainer who he started working for on a full-time basis in 2015, while Auvergnat provided the jockey with the first triumph of his career when he won a cross country chase at Punchestown just under two years ago.

The race itself could hardly have gone smoother for the winner who raced up with the leading half dozen from early on and gave an outstanding exhibition of jumping. Even though the ground was better than usual the field had thinned out considerably by the time the leaders made their approach to the second last fence and not too many held a realistic chance of victory at this point.

Vieux Morvan and Rogue Angel, who had helped force the tempo from the outset, were still doing battle at this stage but neither could muster any response as Auvergnat strode on coming to the last. A safe jump there put the seal on a six-and-a-half-length triumph over Vieux Morvan, with Fitzhenry a further two and a half lengths away in third.

Solomn Grundy completed the placings, ahead of Any Second Now who went off the 5/1 favourite following an avalanche of late support.

PENALTY

“He’ll have a penalty for the La Touche now,” quipped a delighted Bolger. “We put the blinkers on him as he had raced a little lazily in a couple of his runs over hurdles and today he was on fire.

“It’s a pleasant surprise although we did always hope that there might be one of these good races in him and it just goes to show the quality of some of these cross country races. The plan from here would be the cross country chase at Cheltenham in March.”

Sadly the multiple Grade 1 winner Carlingford Lough collapsed and died after finishing 12th. The John Kiely stalwart won five times at the highest level and landed consecutive editions of the Irish Gold Cup in 2015 and 2016.