Denman served further notice of his quality with a dominant success in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown. Paul Nicholls' recent Hennessy Gold Cup winner led from start to finish, underlining his credentials as a potential successor to Kauto Star.
Having initially set only a steady pace on the 4-9 favourite, jockey Ruby Walsh quickened the tempo with half a mile to run, moving clear of The Listener, last year's winner. Mossbank, who travelled well throughout, loomed large on the final bend, but Davy Russell's mount had no answer to Denman's striking turn of foot going to the last.
Denman's late charge left Mossbank trailing by four lengths, with The Listener in third. L'Antartique and State Of Play were never competitive, but three-time race winner Beef Or Salmon stayed on after the last, and was far from disgraced.
"That is what I expected really," admitted Nicholls. "Ruby said this is a hard track to go out and make all, but it was fairly obvious after the first that they weren't going much pace so he let him bowl along. I was slightly worried by the lack of pace but I don't know the track as well as Ruby, so I left it entirely to him and he was always going to gallop all the way to the line.
"When he won at Newbury the last [time] he knew he'd had a race, but he's hardly blowing today so he was that much straighter and it was perfect. The Aon [at Newbury on February 9] would be a possibility next and he will have an entry back here in the Hennessy [on February 10], but nothing is set in stone. I have options and will sort them out later. Hopefully he will end up at the Gold Cup and, like Kauto Star, will have one more run before."
Denman was left unchanged at 2-1 with VC Bet for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, while Mossbank was cut to 33-1 from 50s. The Listener was pushed out to 50-1 from 33s. Stan James opted to cut the winner to 7-4 from 2-1.
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