Brave Delta lands Irish Gold Cup

DELTA WORK toughed it out in the Irish Gold Cup to fuel Gordon Elliott’s dream of a second victory in the real thing at Cheltenham on 13 March.

But his 20-year-old jockey Jack Kennedy was again victim to an injury curse as he was taken to hospital with a suspected broken leg.

Five of yesterday’s Leopardstown rivals had finished in Delta Work’s wake when the eight-year-old lifted the Savills Chase over the same course and distance in December.

And Delta Work showed true grit to come out on top once more, beating the reopposing Kemboy by a length and a half, with Presenting Percy third.

Elliott, winning the race for the first time – and registering his first Grade 1 at the 2020 Dublin Racing Festival at the final attempt – said: “We have hit the crossbar plenty. It’s a great race to win.

“He won the Savills the last day and he’s won this, so he’s bang up there with the best three-mile chasers in England and Ireland at the moment’

And Elliott, a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner with Don Cossack in 2016, added: “Our horses are improving the whole time, so we will dream of another Gold Cup now. It’s all systems go.”

The performance earned a 4-1 quote for the Cheltenham Festival feature, but Elliott and owner Michael O’Leary could be on the lookout for a replacement for Kennedy, who took a fall from Dallas Des Pictons in the following race.

“He’s strapped up and we’re hoping for the best possible result, but we’re worried about the lower leg,” added Elliott.

(left), now 12 years old, worked the Foxrock crowd into a frenzy when leading home a Willie Mullins 1-2-3-4 in the Flogas Novice Chase. “Look what he can do at 12 – he’s got everything,” beamed Mullins, who had earlier saddled Asterion Forlonge to win the Grade 1 Chanelle Pharma Novice Hurdle.

Rachael Blackmore could do no wrong with a double on the opening day of the star-studded meeting, but her mount Aspire Tower, the 1-3 hotpot for the top-level Tattersalls Spring Juvenile Hurdle, took a fall at the final flight, allowing A Wave Of The Sea to overhaul Wolf Prince.