Solness strike keeps the Joseph O'Brien bandwagon rolling

Daring to steer a wide course, he was in front rank throughout, kicked on as they turned for home, and soon had them all in trouble. Gaelic Warrior made late gains into second place but was no threat to the winner, who had been supplemented at a cost of €12,500.

“I’m delighted for JJ,” said O’Brien. “To get a Grade One race here this week is very special, and he had a very tough day yesterday. He gave him the most fantastic ride.

“Ground is important to the horse, and I spoke to JJ beforehand, and JJ felt that he’d go wide and find the driest strip of ground he could find. He jumped fantastic and looked to be going very smoothly all the way through the race.

“I thought he could sneak into the first three, and he had to be third to get the money back, so we said we’d take a chance.

“I think he’ll head on to something like the Champion Chase and be an outside contender.” 

The day’s most valuable race was the Paddy Power Chase and Perceval Legallois had his day in the sun when arriving late on the scene to land the spoils for Gavin Cromwell, Mark Walsh and owner JP McManus.

Walsh admitted he was further back than intended but picked off his rivals one by one and collared the game Midnight Our Fred on the run-in. Galway Plate winner Pinkerton ran a huge race to take third place, with Nick Rockett, who was on his seasonal debut, also running extremely well to take fourth place.

“He deserves this because he was favourite for the Galway Plate, the Kerry National and I think he was high up in the betting for the Troytown, and nothing went to plan in those three races,” said the winning rider.

“Going by the stands, I was further back than I wanted, but it might have been the making of him because he relaxed. He can be keen, but he just lobbed in behind and, the whole way down the back, I tried to pick them off, and thankfully it worked.

“When Carl (Millar, on Three Card Brag) went on down the back, it spread everyone out, so I had more room to manoeuvre. It didn’t go to plan today, but he pulled it off.” A little confusion with numbers had Gordon Elliott on 99 Grade One wins following Croke Park’s success here on Thursday but that, in fact, was one ahead of the real mark. However, he did not have long to wait to actually get to within one of the century of top-grade successes when Romeo Coolio led a stable one-two in the Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle.

Bouncing back from his defeat in the Royal Bond, the gelding made all the running in the hands of Sam Ewing and won with real authority despite a bad mistake at the last.

There were indifferent rounds of jumping in the juvenile hurdle, but Elliott’s Wendrock improved nicely on his hurdling debut to see off well-backed favourite Galileo Dame, whose jumping left plenty of room for improvement.

The ultra-versatile Enniskerry, trained by Barry Connell and ridden by Sean Flanagan, put a seventh career victory on his card when getting up in the final strides to deny long-time leader Pinot Gris in the Spinal Injuries Ireland Handicap Hurdle.

Jeannot Lapin is not only one of the biggest horses in training but also returned one of the biggest starting prices of the year when, on track debut, he took the beginners’ chase for trainer Gearoid O’Loughlin and jockey Ricky Doyle at odds of 150-1.

Limerick trainer Colm Ryan saddled his first winner when Karate Kid belied market weakness in the finale, the Paddy Power The Flat One Bumper. Ray Barron delivered the 18-1 chance to challenge shortly after turning for home and rode him out to beat American Jukebox by a length and a quarter.

“Terrific,” said Ryan. “John (Hayes, owner) is busy farming, and it was very kind of him to give him to me after his last run. He was very green the first day and the ground was too good for him, but he turned inside out since and is quite a smart horse. He’s deadly to jump so hopefully he’s got a very bright future. He could be sold now.

“I just have five stores and this fella, so he’s the only horse I have to run.”