DOOM BAR MAGHULL

NOVICES’ CHASE

(GRADE 1)

A COUPLE of hours before his memorable ride on Tiger Roll, Davy Russell landed the Grade 1 Maghull Novices’ Chase on Henry de Bromhead’s Ornua. The 3/1 joint-favourite, racing in the colours of John Phelan – who once won £130,000 on the Scoop 6 – and Syed Momin, made every yard of the running and found plenty on the run-in to account for Joseph O’Brien’s Us And Them by just under two lengths, with Destrier a close third.

An unusual feature of last week’s meeting involved horses atoning for mishaps at Cheltenham. Ornua fell at the sixth in the Arkle, a race which saw Us And Them finish second for the fourth time in a row. Four became five as he chased Ornua unavailingly in the closing stages last week. Ornua’s fall at Cheltenham caused Jack Quinlan to part company with Kalashnikov, another to come good at Aintree.

The Maghull has become a richly rewarding race for de Bromhead. The trainer was making it three successes in the past seven years, the first coming via the hugely popular front-runner Special Tiara, who sadly died at Leopardstown in February.

Ornua is not as spectacular but will always take plenty of catching around a sharp track.

“It’s great to win a Grade 1 and Davy gave him a lovely ride,” the trainer said.

“Ornua can do anything but going from the front suits him. We’ll have a look at the two-mile novice chase at Punchestown. He deserves a crack at it and hasn’t been too busy over a quiet winter.”

The disappointment of the race was Lalor, who promised much early in the season but finished sixth of seven here.