Grangeclare West and Paul Townend are up and over the last
Neville Hotels Novice Chase report, reaction and free video replay
By Sporting Life
15:37 · FRI December 29, 2023
Grangeclare West won the Neville Hotels Novice Chase at Leopardstown.
Trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Paul Townend, the seven-year-old was taking a step back up in class after making a winning chasing debut at Naas last month.
Unlike when seemingly not up to scratch in Grade 1 novice hurdle events last season, the Cheveley Park Stud-owned Grangeclare West coped admirably with the top-class assignment, jumping well throughout and plotting a wide course on the home bend to angle towards the stands' side in the straight - much the same path taken by brilliant Savills Chase winner Galopin Des Champs 24 hours earlier.
The result was almost equally as emphatic, Townend able to ease down on the 4/1 chance after another fine leap at the last, ultimately scoring by six lengths from well-backed 13/8 favourite Corbetts Cross.
The dual Stayers' Hurdle hero Flooring Porter (3/1), who had cut out most of the early running under Keith Donoghue, was a further 10 lengths back in fourth while the disappointment of the race was Gordon Elliott's Favori De Champdou (3/1), who had beaten Flooring Porter into third last time out.
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Sky Bet make Grangeclare West their new 3/1 favourite (from 12/1) for the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase at Cheltenham in March, a market that had already been impacted by Mullins confirming that Klassical Dream had suffered a setback and would be out for the rest of the season earlier on Friday.
Mullins said: “I didn’t expect that now – I thought he would run well, but that was a top race.
“Paul was worried about him pulling too hard and he’d want to be as fit as he is because he just pulled his arms out for the three miles. To do that, on that ground and win like that going away was a huge performance.
“His jumping was excellent. He just came out of Paul’s hands at the first fence and from then on Paul was just trying to settle him back. He got him back jumping normally. He’s just a natural chaser.
"He might go for the Brown Advisory and Fact To File (won at Leopardstown on Thursday) might go for the Turners. We’ll see, it is a nice problem to have.
“We might come back here to the Dublin Racing Festival first. I’m delighted to win a Grade One at Leopardstown over Christmas with him.”
The Closutton handler said of Klassical Dream: “Unfortunately, he is out for the season after his last bit of work. We will just let the injury settle down over Christmas, but it is very unfortunate.”
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