THERE was an historic Irish success on Sunday when Keith Donoghue guided the Gavin Cromwell-trained Stumptown to justify favouritism and score a first Irish-trained victory in the famous 135th running of the Velka Pardubicka Chase over four and a half miles at Pardubice in the Czech Republic.

The Cheltenham Cross-country chase winner, owned by the Furze Bush Syndicate, had a length and three quarters to spare over Czech-trained High In The Sky.

But it was not all plain sailing and it was a brilliant ride by Keith Donoghue to keep the partnership intact and keep the horse involved as success did not look likely as the field turned back towards the home straight.

Donoghue had experience of this race 12 months ago when the Gordon Elliott-trained Coko Beach was giving him a good spin before they parted company four from home.

This was the strongest foreign challenge for the race in some time, with three runners trained outside the home territory. But as always with this unique race, there are no easy wins and a legion of hard luck stories.

Last year’s winner Sexy Lord took them along at a fair pace in the early stages, and there was still plenty of pace up front approaching the famous, the Taxis fence, as four of 31.

Dream ended

The Irish dream could so nearly have ended there, Stumptown landed steeply and stumbled and Donoghue could have been jumped out of the saddle in the recovery, but he sat tight, collected his reins and pressed on, on the first circuit of this four-and-a-half-mile marathon over turf and harrowed fields.

Both the grey Gentleman de Reve and Peter Maher’s Cavalry Master showed prominently but both faded as the race progressed, the grey French-bred, in the famous Valentine pink heart colours, giving his young American amateur Teddy Davies the spin of a lifetime.

There was more drama to come at fences eight and nine, an in-and-out jump known as the Small Gardens and at which Stumptown barely lifted a leg and emerged last of the main field.

Donoghue didn’t panic and allowed Stumptown time to find his rhythm again, bringing up the rear for much of the middle of the race, as the running was made by Sexy Lord, from Cuwall, Chelmsford and Gentleman De Reve, and it continued as the field bunched with 11 fences to cover, with Cuwall taking over.

After looking to struggle from half way, Donoghue and Stumptown made ground on the inside over the final five fences to move up to third, though still pushed along, approaching the home turn.

High In The Sky still had a length lead at the last, but Donoghue drove Stumptown on and put a length and a half between them by the line, the fast-finishing Caryjape putting in his best work in the finish to close the gap to over seven lengths in third.

“It’s brilliant to win. He gave me a great spin, he’s just a fabulous horse,” Donoghue told the packed grandstands, post-race, while Gavin Cromwell added: “It’s such a privilege to win this race and hopefully we’ll be back again in the future.” The crowd cheered the runners with each run by the grandstand in scenes reminiscent of Cheltenham.

Owners of Stumptown, The Furze Bush Syndicate, have already tasted cross-country chase victory at Cheltenham twice, and are likely to follow a cross-country route again, through he got a 33/1 quote for the Grand National in which he was pulled up last season.

Cavalry Master, representing Peter Maher and rider Sean O’Keeffe, showed prominently and jumped well for much of the contest, but found his stamina running out in the closing stages as he faded into ninth.

British-based rider James Best fared better aboard Zarate in fifth, while favourite Sexy Lord was pulled up on the home bend having set out to make all in the hands of Jaroslav Myska.