BRAVO DELTA
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 March 13.
But his 20-year-old jockey Jack Kennedy was again victim of 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 he showed plenty of grit to come out on top once more, beating the reopposing Kemboy by a length and a half, with Presenting Percy back in third.
Elliott, winning the race for the first time, and registering his first Grade One 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.”
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.
“Don Cossack was a special horse. He gave me my first
Gold Cup winner and hopefully he won’t be my last!”
The performance earned Delta Work 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.
Willie Mullins’ Al Boum Photo still heads the Gold Cup market at 7-2 and his owner Joe Donnelly saw his colours carried to success on Asterion Forlonge in the Chanelle Pharma Novice Hurdle.
Rachael Blackmore could do no wrong with a double on the opening day of the star-studded
Dublin Racing Festival 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 10-1 chance A Wave Of The Sea to score. RICH RICCI has raised the possibility of supplementing Benie Des Dieux for the Unibet Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham.
The Willie Mullins-trained nine-year-old currently holds entries in the Mares’ Hurdle and the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle but Ricci has not ruled out the 2m championship.
He said: “Would we supplement her for the Champion Hurdle? I don’t know.
“I don’t know if she’ll be fast enough, but it’s something you’ll have to consider.”