Pure Steel off the mark over fences at Punchestown Having caught the eye when a promising third on his chasing debut at Naas last month, Pure Steel got off the mark on his second start over fences when readily landing the opening Matchbook Betting Exchange Rated Novice Chase at Punchestown. Mark Walsh settled the Jimmy Mangan trained gelding in mid division, before moving up to go third after the fourth last fence. Travelling strongly between the final two obstacles, the J.P. McManus owned 5/2 chance headed leader Coral River at the last, before going on to win easily by three-and-a-quarter lengths. “We like him. We’ll stick to two miles at the moment,” said Mangan. “For the calibre of horses that are in the country, it was a handy enough race. There was no real star in it and he was entitled to win. “We could look at a novice handicap, around two miles again.” When asked if Christmas might come a bit quick, he added:- “Ah, not really. He hadn’t a hard race there, they went a handy gallop.” Additional reporting by Gary Carson.
