Jockey Robbie Power put a seal on his big-race weekend with a first Ladbrokes Troytown Chase success on Chris’s Dream at Navan on Sunday.
Twenty four hours after an exciting Betfair Chase victory on the new Gold Cup favourite Lostintranslation at Haydock, Power also struck in style closer to home.
Chris’s Dream, a well-backed 9-2 favourite, turned Navan’s 23-runner €100,000 feature into a near 10-length rout.
Henry De Bromhead’s charge made it three out of three at the track and earned some fancy Cheltenham Gold Cup price quotes of his own in the process.
Whether that means Power deserts Lostintranslation is unlikely but the 37-year-old currently appears to be the ‘go-to’ jockey on either side of the Irish Sea.
“It’s been a fantastic week and that caps it off,” he said. “I haven’t had much luck in the Troytown before but that was better. A second season novice like Chris’s Dream is the type of horse you want.”
Power added: “Fingers-crossed Lostintranslation has taken everything in his stride. It looks like the King George next and we will know more after.”
Saturday’s victory made Lostintranslation as low as 7-2 favourite for the Gold Cup in March.
Power could also claim a role in Bythesametoken's handicap hurdle victory over the odds-on favourite Encore Lui.
The jockey rode Ross O’Sullivan’s charge five days previously when beating just two home.
“He was very disappointing. Robert said he was crying out for a cross noseband and a tongue tie and said he wasn’t getting enough oxygen in,” the trainer said. “It shows how important the input from these top jockeys can be.”
Abacadabras' withdrawal from the Monksfield Novice Hurdle due to a change in going turned the €42,500 Grade Three into a lucrative if unsatisfactory stroll for another Gigginstown runner, Fury Road, at odds of 1-25.
“They were calling it yielding on Friday morning so we said we’d take our chance. But when all the rain came and it went yielding to soft we said we’d leave him [Abacadabras] alone and not pull the legs out of him at this stage of his career, and keep him for the Royal Bond,” explained trainer Gordon Elliott.
Having also saddled Thatsy to win the opener, Elliott completed a hat-trick when the 6-5 favourite Bigbadandbeautiful landed the listed bumper in impressive fashion, Jamie Codd bringing the grey from well back to run down the 66-1 outsider Dreamingandhoping in the closing stages.
