Churchstonewarrior secured a deserved first victory over fences with a determined display in the William Hill Ten Up Novice Chase at Navan.
Jonathan Sweeney’s stable star has a bumper success and two wins over hurdles to his credit, but had to make do with the runner-up spot in his first three chase starts – most recently coming home behind Gaillard Du Mesnil in a Grade One at Leopardstown over Christmas.
Easing in class for this three-mile Grade Two, Churchstonewarrior was a 9/4 chance in the hands of Aidan Coleman, with John McConnell’s recent course-and-distance winner Mahler Mission the 5/4 favourite.
In the end it came down to a fight between the front two in the market, with Churchstonewarrior digging deep to get the better of Mahler Mission by three-quarters of a length.
Flanking Maneuver travelled strongly for a long way on his first competitive appearance in over two years and connections will undoubtedly be delighted with his performance in finishing a close-up third.
“That’s great, he was good. Aidan was very happy with him and said he jumped well,” Sweeney of the winner.
“I’ll talk to the lads now and see, but he’s in the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham. We’ll get over today and see how he is tomorrow.
“He’s developing away and improving all the time. I’d imagine he could be a National horse in time.
“I’m delighted for the owners, they are a great bunch of lads. They were getting a fair bit of money for him last year. He was vetted and was going, Tom (Hegarty) rang me one evening and asked what I thought and I said ‘I’d have to sell him if he was mine’ but they kept him anyway, which was great.”
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