Kilford clears the last under Luke Dempsey© Photo Healy Racing
Kilford (4/1) followed up on his recent course and distance win as he took the feature at Navan, the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Novice Handicap Chase Final.
Having made all to win a veterans contest at the venue last month, the same tactics were deployed today.
Sent straight to the front by Luke Dempsey, the Leonard Whitmore trained top-weight went clear with over a circuit to race.
His lead was significantly reduced by Imagine The Chat on the approach to three out, however he pulled out more from there, keeping on well on the run-in to score by nine and a half lengths in the colours of the Fort Road Syndicate. Oscar Knight was sent off the well-backed 15/8 favourite (from 10/3 last night) and he finished second under Barry Geraghty for Tom Mullins.
Imagine The Chat (9/1), Jonathan Moore for Rebecca Curtis, was a head back in third, while none of the remaining five runners managed to complete the course.
Leonard Whitmore said afterwards: "It was a good performance under top-weight. He stayed at it well but got a bit tired at the end as he was entitled to do after going that pace with that weight.
"He's a big horse and was hurt several times. We probably pushed him too hard when he was younger. He's entered in the Irish National, and he might get in now with a light weight."
Additional reporting by Alan Magee
