Western claims top level honours for Elliott Western Fold bagged a top level success in the Dooley Insurance Group Champion Novice Chase, giving Gordon Elliott an important Grade 1 winner on day one of the Punchestown festival. Jack Kennedy gave the 18/1 shot a patient hold up ride, producing him to press the leaders over the second last. The Westerner gelding hit the front running down to the final fence and galloped on strongly in the closing stages to post a three-and-three-quarter length win over Fleur In The Park. Western Fold, winner of last summer’s Galway Plate, had been placed twice in Grade 1 company this season and was bouncing back having been brought down at Fairyhouse on his last outing. "That is great and while I was nervous of the three miles, the last two times we tried him over it, we rode him too handy," said Elliott. "We rode him cold today and it was a good performance. Some horses come to the end of their season around now but he has been busier than most and is one of the top five earners this season. "We initially thought about going for the American Grand National, a race Zanahiyr won last year for us, and while we have tried Western Fold in open company in Ireland and it didn't work out, the American race is a Grade 1 so is nothing to be sneezed at. "I'm not saying we won't go to America but there is also the PWC Champion Chase at Gowran in October for him too and maybe we could pot hunt too. The key to this horse is the ground and he is a stone better on it. "He will have a little break now and while I'd love to go back for the Galway Plate, he might be too high in the weights after today." Kennedy told RTE afterwards:- “He was probably a little bit over-priced coming into this race. I definitely thought he’d fit in a place anyway. “He jumped brilliant and done it very well. He’s been a great horse and come up through the handicaps and just kept improving. “He’s an unbelievable jumper. He actually wasn’t great over hurdles but fences have really brought out the best in him. “The plan was to just hunt away. He came home well in Leopardstown (when second to Kaid D’authie) and that was his first run in a while. I didn’t think he’d handle the ground but he came home well and came on plenty for that race. “Probably being ridden handy in Cheltenham didn’t suit him. It’s hard to know where he would have finished up in Fairyhouse the last day when he came down two out. The race kind of fell apart a bit from there. “The way he came home there he probably wouldn’t have been far away the last day either. “He’s a very tough horse, he’s been to all the festivals. That’s brilliant.” (Additional reporting by Tom Weekes)
