Found A Fifty floors Majborough in Hilly Way

Found A Fifty upstaged the returning Majborough to continue his fine start to the season in the BAR 1 Betting Hilly Way Chase at Cork.

A dual Grade One-winning novice last season, Majborough was the 4-6 favourite to make a winning return in a Grade Two contest his trainer Willie Mullins had won nine times in the last decade, with the yard’s three-time winner Energumene also part of the five-strong field.

But while the Closutton pair have been off the track since the spring, Gordon Elliott’s Found A Fifty (3-1) was race-fit following to outings already this autumn, most recently triumphing in the Fortria Chase at Navan three weeks ago.

Majborough set out to make all the running under Mark Walsh and while he veered left on the approach to several obstacles and was untidy at others, he led Found A Fifty and Energumene into the home straight.

But Found A Fifty and Jack Kennedy eventually wore him down and passed the post with a length and a half in hand, completing a four-timer on the afternoon for both his trainer and jockey.

“We had fitness on our side and the rain that fell suited us. He stayed going well and it is great to win those pots,” said Elliott.

“Today might have been our day to catch Majborough napping, but he’s a great horse and that’s his level.

“To be fair, Majborough made mistakes so handed the race to us and today might have been our Gold Cup. It is a great race to win and this is my first time winning it and he wins a big race every year, so we are lucky to have him.

“He is in at Leopardstown over Christmas so I’ll talk to Noel and Valerie (Moran, owners) and see.”

Mullins said: “I was disappointed with Majborough’s jumping as it didn’t hold together going down the back, and he paid the price. I am hoping that will bring him on. I was hoping he’d jump a lot better, so it is a bit disappointing.

“He will just have to improve his jumping to be competitive at that level. He just seems to have lost his confidence and I don’t know if more schooling can fix it or maybe he can go up in trip, but I think we’ll stay where we are for the time being. I think fitness will be a big help, but definitely there are question marks there over his jumping.

“We should be able to get to Leopardstown over Christmas with him if he recovers nicely from this race.”

Of Energumene, the champion trainer added: “He has won this three times and is just getting on, he probably needs an extra half-mile at this stage of his career and maybe even down a division.

“I’m not sure whether he’s going to be competitive over two and a half in Grade Ones, he may have to come down to Grade Twos, but we’ll see.”

This weekend’s results have had a big impact on the ante-post betting for the Queen Mother Champion Chase, with Majborough’s odds eased to 5-1 from 7-2 while his stablemate Il Etait Temps is now the 3-1 favourite following his Tingle Creek success on Saturday.

Reflecting on Il Etait Temps, Mullins said: “It was a tremendous performance and I had just been hoping that his win in the Celebration Chase in the spring wasn’t a freak run from him.

“He has put his stamp on the two-mile division and hopefully he can retain that for the rest of the season.”