Kemboy shows flame still burns brightly at Fairyhouse

The Willie Mullins-trained gelding was the highest-rated chaser in training after winning the Savills Chase, the Aintree Bowl and the Punchestown Gold Cup under a retiring Ruby Walsh a few seasons ago.

He has found victories harder to come by since, with his most recent achieved in the 2021 Irish Gold Cup, but made the most of having his sights lowered in this Grade Three contest.

Kemboy proved he retains plenty of ability by finishing second in both the Down Royal Champion Chase and the Savills Chase earlier this season and had far less on his plate than when sixth behind esteemed stablemate Galopin Des Champs in the Irish Gold Cup three weeks ago.

Allowed to dominate in front in the hands of Paul Townend, the 11-year-old dug deep once challenged and had just enough in the tank to see off Vanillier, who ran a fine trial for the Grand National, by a half a length.

“That was good, I thought a drop in grade at this stage of his career was probably no harm,” said Mullins of the 15/8 favourite.

“He was careful at some of his jumps and then got some really good jumps. He jumped well when it mattered over the last.

“The dry conditions were a huge help to him. I might try to pick out another race like that. The Imperial Call Chase at Cork (April 9) might be a possible.

“The Aintree Bowl is a possibility, but you are running up against Grade One horses there and we might be as well off keeping below the radar. That’s his first win for two years and I’d prefer to keep him in a lower grade at his age and be competitive.

“Then we could try to finish up at Punchestown where he had a great day with Ruby Walsh, if he could roll back the years maybe he could do it again.”

A couple of significant jumping errors were not enough to prevent Zenta from making a successful Irish debut for Mullins in the Grade Three Norman Colfer Winning Fair Juvenile Hurdle.

The Auteuil winner was the 4/9 favourite to strike Grade Three gold on her first start for owner JP McManus and she travelled strongly in the slipstream of the front-running Hypotenus for much of the extended two-mile contest.

She was far from fluent at the second-last and the last flight of hurdles, but was still good enough to score by three lengths. Betfair left her odds for the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham unchanged at 20/1.

Mullins said: “She jumped super and then things just fell apart but I think she will improve. She’s essentially a good jumper and it was just maybe being in front.

“She’s a nice mare and I think she’s going to improve. She’ll head for the Triumph Hurdle, I’d imagine.

“If she just keeps her jumping together she’s going to win lots of prizes.”

“She’s one we have been looking forward to. We sort of had to rush her preparation to get her ready for this but we felt she needed it if she was going to go across the water.

“She passed the test, she didn’t pass it with flying colours but she passed it.”

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