Valseur Lido, one of about 50 horses to leave the Willie Mullins stable after his fallout with leading owner Michael O’Leary, was an impressive winner of the Grade One JNWine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal on Saturday for his new trainer, Henry de Bromhead.
Ruby Walsh, Valseur Lido’s regular partner when he was trained by Mullins, kept the ride on the seven-year-old who had been the runner-up behind his stable companion Vautour in the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham in March. The 2-1 favourite cruised into contention before the second-last and quickly went clear before crossing the line 11 lengths ahead of Silviniaco Conti, the winner of the King George VI Chase in 2013 and 2014, and a 25-1 outsider, Lord Soundrel.
Don Poli, another runner in O’Leary’s Gigginstown Stud colours, who joined Gordon Elliott from the Mullins stable in September, was pulled up before the fourth-last.
“He’s new to the yard, so you don’t really know, but he did a lovely piece of work the other day,” De Bromhead said. “In that piece of work he just showed a gear that a real good three-miler may not necessarily have.
“We offered the ride to Ruby and he came back and said he wanted to ride him. I’ll speak to Michael and Eddie [O’Leary, the owner’s brother and racing manager] and see what we’ll do for the future. It looked at any stage of the race he could have picked them up. He seemed to be travelling so well.”
De Bromhead completed a double on the card when Sub Lieutenant, who moved to his yard from Sandra Hughes earlier in the year, made most of the running in the two-and-a-half-mile Titanic Belfast Chase, a Grade Two event.
“He’s just a brilliant jumper,” De Bromhead said. “When he sees a fence he just wants to go and jump it. He just loves it. David [Mullins] gave him a brilliant ride. They were hard at it from a long way and he was up there the whole way.
“The John Durkan [Chase at Punchestown] would be one race to think about, but I’ll speak to the lads. He was entered in the King George [at Kempton Park on Boxing Day] but we’ll see. He’s only a second-season novice.
“Winning a Grade One and a Grade Two [on the same card] is incredible. We’ve been given an amazing opportunity and we want to try and take it the best we can.”
At Doncaster, Saeed bin Suroor’s Prize Money took the November Handicap, the last major race of the Flat season, staying on well under apprentice jockey George Wood after hitting the front a quarter of a mile from home.
Prize Money, who started at 4-1, contested a minor Derby trial in the spring but lost his form during the summer, and was returning to the track on Saturday after being gelded.
“This is a dream come true,” Wood said. “I felt he had a good chance coming here and it worked out great. It’s nice to get him back in the winners’ enclosure because he’s a lovely horse with plenty of class, he was only beaten by [the Eclipse winner] Hawkbill [in the King Edward VI Stakes] at Royal Ascot.
“He seemed to really enjoy it. He kept on digging and finding in the straight and won pretty well in the end.”
Sceau Royal ran out an easy winner of the Elite Hurdle at Wincanton, and was cut to around 12-1 (from 25-1) for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.
The winner, one of last season’s leading juvenile hurdlers, was able to cruise to victory under Daryl Jacob after Zubayr, his main market rival, fell at the final flight when he was still nearly two lengths adrift of Sceau Royal.
“We thought he had a great chance in the Triumph [Hurdle in March] but at that time our horses weren’t firing and he disappointed in that,” Alan King, Sceau Royal’s trainer, said.
“He’s had a good summer break and we’ve been happy with his home-work and his two runs have been very impressive. I would think that ground is plenty quick enough for him. Hopefully we’ve got away with it. I’m sure he’ll be better with a bit more ease.
“I suppose we have to start thinking about the Champion. The Fighting Fifth [at Newcastle] has been mentioned but that’s three only weeks away. I wouldn’t mind waiting for the Christmas Hurdle [Kempton], but I’ll have to speak to the owners.”
