Nurburgring wins Novice Chase en route to Galway Nurburgring continued a fine July Festival for trainer Joseph O'Brien when registering a first win over fences in the Lee Strand Novice Chase at Killarney. Runner-up on the Flat at Royal Ascot last time, the five-year-old had finished fourth at the Cheltenham Festival on his previous outing over fences. Back in calmer waters this afternoon, the 8/13f was always prominent under J J Slevin before taking over in front entering the straight. Despite a less than fluent jump two out, the former Galway Hurdle winner survived that error to pull away to beat Special Cadeau by four-and-a-half lengths. Slevin said: "The trip was probably short of his best but we were hoping he'd do something like that. The race cut up a bit but he has done it well. "We wanted to sharpen him up before Galway so there weren't many other places to go with him. He'll go for the Plate now." He added "the speed was on going to the second-last and he didn't back off the fence as he should, but was very good at the last fence and it was a pleasing performance. We didn't go slow, he isn't a natural front-runner and it turned into a dash. "He won the (Galway) Hurdle last year so it is great to be in the mix for the Plate now." Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes.
