BARGAIN BUY IS ACE IN THE PACK

BARGAIN buy Skyace gave trainer John ‘Shark’ Hanlon his first Grade 1 victory when getting the better of Gauloise by a half-length in the €100,000 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Novice Hurdle Championship Final in Fairyhouse.

And the 4/1 joint-favourite provided Jody Mcgarvey with the first leg of a Grade 1 double ahead of Janidil leading home a 1-2-3 for Willie Mullins in the Underwriting Exchange Gold Cup

Novice Chase, just 24 hours after his win on Hearts Are Trumps in the €80,000 handicap hurdle on Saturday,

Bought off Willie Mullins for just €600 and owned by the Dubai-based Birdinthehand Syndicate, Skyace was building on a creditable fourth in the Grade 2 mares novice at Cheltenham.

This was a hugely popular success for Hanlon, who said: “She came home from Cheltenham better than when she left. I knew she was in great form and I thought she was a bloody certainty today.

And he added: “She’s a small price filly and it’s great for racing. It’s great to have one like her. And it’s brilliant to have a Grade 1 winner.”

Mcgarvey completed his 64/1 Grade 1 double when Janidil outpointed stable-companions Franco De Port and favourite Asterion Forlonge (Patrick

Mullins, deputising for Paul Townend, who had gone for x-rays on a foot injury) in the Grade 1 novice chase.

Janidil, owned by J P Mcmanus, was bouncing back from a fall in the Flogas at Leopardstown and provided Mullins with the third leg of a four-timer, which also included El Barra, Echoes In Rain (impressive winner of the Grade 2 Paddy Kehoe Novice Hurdle) and bumper scorer Dark Raven.