Willie Mullins’ Janidil was the winner of the Grade Two Red Mills Chase at 7/2 under Rachael Blackmore at Gowran Park.
All eyes were on fellow Mullins inmate and 4/6 favourite Haut En Coleurs, with Capodanno also running for the Closutton team, as the stable looked to reshuffle their Ryanair Chase pack following the news that Allaho would be on the sidelines for the Cheltenham Festival.
However, after taking a wide line amongst a field of four, Janidil returned from a significant absence and put two non-completions at the end of last term behind him to prevail by a length and a quarter from the market leader.
Speaking before Shishkin’s impressive Ascot victory, Mullins said: “It was a nice comeback for Janidil and he was straighter than I thought he was. It puts him right in the Ryanair picture I think and he is a little further advanced that I thought he was on his homework. It was a nice surprise.
“It is always nice to win this Red Mills race and we feed nothing else!”
He added “I thought it was a slow enough pace early on and Rachael got a good tune out of him over the last three fences.
“I am happy enough with Haut En Couleurs as well and whether or not he goes to the Ryanair, I don’t know but we’d have to supplement him for it. That is a possible target but we’ll see.
“The trip was too short for Capodanno and I could have waited until next week for the Bobbyjo Chase, but I wanted to get a run out out of the way quicker. He is in the Gold Cup and is also in Aintree (Grand National) so we’ll have a chat with connections and think about it.”
Janidil, runner-up to Allaho in last year's Ryanair Chase, is a general 8/1 chance to go one better next month but after watching Shishkin’s Ascot Chase demolition, Mullins told Racing TV: “Looking at Shishkin on the TV, that’s got to put him in as (Ryanair) favourite, that was a huge performance.”
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