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Daryl Jacob gave El Fabiolo a perfect ride to win the Goffs Irish Arkle Novice Chase at Leopardstown for Willie Mullins.
Mullins held a pleasing hand in the race with Appreciate It, Dysart Dynamo, Flame Bearer and Saint Roi giving the trainer the winner in class one.
The Mullins camp all seemed to side with Appreciate It, with Paul Townend making him the choice after two faultless victories over fences.
But the nine-year-old, who has missed a lot of time with various injuries, found younger legs to handle in the fast-paced contest.
That was set by Danny Mullins on Dysart Dynamo and after only four fences good horses like Fil Dor and Visionarian were far behind.
El Fabiolo (9-2) committed three faults from home, but Jacob gave time to get back into the rhythm and in the second time, he was in pole position.
As he began to drop back, Joseph O’Brien’s Banbridge began to stay strong and he eventually got Appreciate It and Dysart Dynamo to finish second, but by 10 lengths.
Winners owned by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede went down to Jonbon over hurdles at Aintree last season and the two now dominate the betting for Arkle at Cheltenham next month, Betfair making Jonbon the 13-8 favorite ahead of El Fabiolo at 2 -1 (from 7s).
“He just improved all the time. At the beginning of the year we thought maybe we should go out for two and a half (miles), but what happened at Christmas and again today is definitely Arkle,” said Mullins.
“You can see that each horse has a chance at different stages of the race. One of the negatives (was) when we made a mistake, but Daryl blamed himself for that, saying it was not the horse’s fault.
“Then he got back on the bridle again and I thought ‘this horse is traveling’ and he did everything right.
“Some very good horses were second, third and fourth to win 10 lengths in this type of race, which goes to Cheltenham with a good chance.”
On the owner, he added: “Both (Munir and Souede) have a good appetite for the game and are having fun. Both are traveling away here at the Dublin Racing Festival this weekend, so it’s great that they have . first class champion.”
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