Blue Las produced the most fluent round of jumping as she fended off the long odds-on favourite Fun Fun Fun in the listed Safer Gambling At CopyBet Mares' Chase at Exeter.
The Willie Mullins-trained Irish raider Fun Fun Fun was sent off at just 2/5 as she faced just two rivals in the three-mile contest, with Blue Las taking the field along from Della Casa Lunga in the early exchanges. Fun Fun Fun wasn’t overly fluent at the first few chases, but soon warmed to her task as she was hunted round under Paul Townend.
Della Casa Lunga attempted to inject some pace into the race coming down the hill for the first time but her two rivals were always in close attendance and it was then Blue Las’s turn to try and get the market leader off the bridle by injecting some pace turning for home.
Several fluent leaps followed for the mount of Dylan Johnston, in stark contrast to Fun Fun Fun who was much more ponderous at her obstacles. She got to within a length of the Neil Mulholland-trained winner, but that was as good as it got, and it was the 10/3 second-favourite who was strongest at the line.
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The winning trainer told Racing TV: “She’s a really likable mare, she had good bumper and hurdling form, and she's improving as a chaser all the time. We’re very happy with her and there should be more to come - hopefully the handicapper wasn't watching!
“She’s very genuine and Dylan [Johnstone, winning jockey] felt she might pull out more if challenged.
“This was her Gold Cup, really, we just didn't expect the Willie Mullins horse to be here. It wasn’t ideal [to take on such a highly-rated runner], but fair play to Dai [Walters, owner] – he's a fantastic supporter of the game and he was happy to stick to the original plan."
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