IN a triumph for patience and perseverance, Death Duty, once considered a horse destined for the top over jumps, bagged the three-and-a-half-mile marathon €90,000 Hollywoodbets National Trial Handicap Chase.

In a race dominated by Gordon Elliott, who was winning it for the third time in five years, Death Duty lined up in search of a first win since the 2017 Drinmore Novice Chase. In the intervening period, he had run just nine times and had spent spells of two years and a year off the track.