AS expected the dual Gold Cup hero Al Boum Photo returned with a victory in the Grade 3 Savills New Year’s Day Chase where the best staying chaser in Ireland and England took a solid first step on a path that could lead to racing immortality in just over two month’s time.

In both 2019 and 2020 the Marie Donnelly-owned nine-year-old has used this two-and-three-quarter-miles event as a stepping stone to Gold Cup glory and he enjoyed a relatively straight forward time of things as odds of 2/9 suggested would be the case.