Sea Aster beats stablemate to bring up treble for Elliott and Gilligan Sea Aster found extra close home to narrowly defeat stablemate Wine An Dine in the Fibrus Super Simple To Switch Handicap Chase at Down Royal. That win brought up a treble for trainer Gordon Elliott and jockey Danny Gilligan, who had earlier been on the mark with Howdoyalikeherhome and Pied Piper respectably. Held up towards rear under Gilligan, Sea Aster began to make steady progress after the fourth last fence. Pushed along to get closer after the next, the seven-year-old went second behind Meyo on the approach to the penultimate fence. Soon in front, the mare faced a strong challenge from stablemate Wine An Dine who came through on the stands side at the final fence but a less than fluent jump handed the initiative back to Sea Aster who kept on well on the run-in to win by a cosy three-quarters-of-a-length. Assistant trainer Lisa O'Neill said: "The better ground is definitely key to her. "You can see she is not big, but she is all heart. She is very game and genuine. "It came down to the last and Jordan's horse (Gainford on Wine An Dine) made a mistake and that was probably the difference. "It is great for her owners (Around The Fire Syndicate), they are a nice syndicate of people. "She did it nicely today and the good ground will hopefully keep options open for her for the summer months. "She is not that big, but she is really tough and she has toughed it out all the way to the line. She has great heart and that is all you need sometimes." Additional reporting by Michael Graham.
