COKO Beach is on course for another tilt at the Grand National at Aintree after bouncing back to winning ways at Punchestown last Sunday.

The consistent grey recorded his first success in almost two years when running out a cosy winner of the QuinnBet National Trial under Ben Harvey.

Gordon Elliott’s charge was delivered to lead two from home in the three-and-a-half mile contest and the Gigginstown gelding kicked on before the last to record a five-and-a-half length victory at odds of 7/1.

He was chased home by stablemate Death Duty with Defi Bleu making it a clean sweep of the placings for connections.

“We said we’d ride him a little bit more restrained today, just take our time a little bit more as we’ve been making a lot of use of him lately,” said Elliott.

“He jumped well and Ben said when he got to the front he didn’t do a stroke. He gave the last a big jump and it’s nice to win it.

“I’d imagine he’ll go to Aintree, there’s not much at Cheltenham for him. I’ll imagine they’ll all be heading towards the Nationals, English and Irish.

“The winner runs his race all the time and is a grand horse. He finished eighth in the National last year and was right there at the third last.

“Death Duty ran well, he said he would have been bang there only for missing the fourth and third last. He’s a good horse but he’s not easy to train.”

The No Risk At All mare was held up in the two-mile-and-five-furlong contest before coming with a strong surge to lead in the closing stages of the run-in to beat Shecouldbeanything by a length and a quarter.

Willie Mullins trains the winner for Dr Peter FitzGerald and he said afterwards: “It was another fine tactical ride by Danny, I thought.

“They went off very fast and anything that was up there early on couldn’t stay the pace. It took a lot of getting at that pace and she’s shown us that she’s a stayer.

Very keen

“She was very keen early on in her career but now she’s learning how to settle and race. She might get an entry in a handicap at Cheltenham or maybe wait for Fairyhouse. We’ll see what sort of rating she gets. You could look at the Martin Pipe or Coral Cup.”

Mullins went on to record a double on the card when Ballyburn made a winning debut in the bumper.

The Loughanmore point-to-point winner was keen throughout but the 7/4 shot found plenty, for Patrick Mullins, in the closing stages to record a two-and-a-quarter length win over Quantum Storm.

“He’s a horse that we’re really looking forward to going over jumps. He looks a real chaser in the making however he probably booked a ticket to Cheltenham with that run,” said Mullins senior.

“He looks an exciting recruit for Ronnie Bartlett and David Manasseh, who is a football agent. It looked like a fair race in very tough ground.”

ENDA Bolger landed a remarkable sixth successive win in the ARKequine PP Hogan Cross Country Chase with Stealthy Tom proving best of his trio of runners.

The Yeats gelding came with a strong run to lead after the last where 7/2 favourite Singing Banjo had made a slight error. The 8/1 shot galloped on strongly to score by a length and a quarter.

“He ran a lovely race here in the spring. I was giving the other two a better chance because he hadn’t run since last August in Killarney,” said Bolger.

“He got a lovely ride from Simon (Torrens) and he was nice and patient on him. He’s only seven so he’s going to be a nice horse for this game for the future.

When asked if the winner could go to Cheltenham he added: “We’ll see, I’ll talk to the boss and see what they want to do – whether the experience would do him good.

All roads

“Definitely all roads will lead to the La Touche with him and he would go on nicer ground as well which is a plus for the spring meeting.”

Torrens doubled up later on the card for owner J.P. McManus when Verdant Place claimed the David Trundley Artist Handicap Hurdle.

The Pat Foley-trained gelding had won over two-and-a-half miles at the course last month and handled the step up in trip to almost three miles well.

Torrens produced the 5/2 favourite to lead before the last and despite misjudging that flight slightly he went on to record a comprehensive three-length win over Gallant John Joe.

“I’m delighted with that. The ground was a bit worse than I thought it was going to be coming here, they are saying it’s dead. He got through it but I still think he might be a better horse on nicer ground,” said Foley.

“We’re delighted to get another win out of him today and go back-to-back. I think that’s his trip, maybe on nice ground you could drop him back a little bit but we’ll try and keep him to two-six or three miles.”

Senior for Final

Senior Chief looked a promising prospect when opening his ‘track’ account for Henry de Bromhead in the John Ross Memorial Maiden Hurdle.

The Gentlewave gelding went to post the 5/4 favourite having been runner-up on his hurdling debut at Clonmel in November.

Rachael Blackmore went to the front after the second last and despite not being fluent at the last, and running slightly greenly in the closing stages, her mount found plenty to score by a length from Hollow Sound.

“I’m delighted with that, he’s a horse we like a lot and he was good there,” said de Bromhead. “He still looked a bit green but he jumped really well. I think his main aim is the (Connolly’s Red Mills EBF) auction final back here at the festival.”

Earlier on the card, Indiana Jones opened his account over fences with a comprehensive victory in the Concept Colours Rated Novice Chase.

The Mouse Morris-trained gelding came to lead after the second last, under Darragh O’Keeffe, and the Robcour-owned seven-year-old asserted on the run-in to post a 10-length win.

“He jumped well. We’ll try and find another race like that or go for a handicap,” said Morris afterwards.