Claude really taking to chasing A long journey up from Sarah Joanna Connell's yard in Co Waterford paid off for Claude in the Metcollect Handicap Steeplechase at Down Royal. The recent Cork winner was nicely backed down to 9/2, but his supporters must have been fretting as he looked in trouble before three out. Once Aidan Kelly asked him for more, he got more than interested and raced through to lead over the next. Costacurta (5/1) kept him honest, but was half a length in arrears at the line. Farrokh was more than four lengths behind in third at 9/2. Aidan Kelly said: "She (Connell) has only a handful of horses, but she is well able to train them. "It was her idea to go jumping fences with him. No he's not (bred for it), but he seems to take to it well. "The last day in Cork he won going away. There today, he was tough. "Fair play to Sarah, he did plenty of work up the Curragh. "Six and a half hours up here today, and we were kind of worried about the ground, but he got away with it. "It took me a while to catch my breath, I'm still trying to catch it! He's a quirky individual. The last day we didn't go as hard as we did today. Jumping the third-last, I was thinking I was going to pull up and as soon as I got stuck into him, he took off. I was probably there a bit soon as well. He toughed it out well and did it well."
