RACING POST CHAMPION I.N.H. FLAT RACE (GRADE 1)

SHE can do it from the front and she can do it from last and Fayonagh showed just what an exceptional talent she is in becoming only the third horse and first mare to complete the Cheltenham-Punchestown Champion Bumper double.

A second Grade 1 winner of the afternoon for Gordon Elliott, Fayonagh was the 11/8 favourite to confirm her status as the season’s standout bumper horse. She did so in the most straightforward style to continue a remarkable journey which began just under a year ago when she finished eighth in a Cork bumper on her debut.

There followed a victory in a Naas bumper for Richie Rath after which Jamie Codd, acting for owner Maura Gittins, bought the daughter of Kalanisi for £64,000.

Codd has since gone unbeaten on the mare which included that remarkable last to first charge at Cheltenham last month.

The plan then had been to race up with the pace before things went awry at the start but a return to forcing tactics was employed on this occasion as Fayonagh took the field along from the outset.

Unusually just seven runners went to post here but few were ever meaningfully involved.

Fayonagh was tracked throughout by Paloma Blue and that one offered the stiffest resistance, but he was brushed aside early in the straight and the six-year-old went on to finish with five and a half lengths to spare.

The winner’s stablemate Poli Roi finished third with Go Another One taking fourth.

“We don’t gallop her at home as she can be a little bit buzzy but she is a very good filly,” said Elliott.

“I would imagine that we will put her away now to go jumping next autumn. She has been schooled at home and she does jump very well. A summer’s grass will do her the world of good.”