Leopardstown redemption for Monalee as he gains Grade 1 glory

The Henry De Bromhead trained Monalee overcame a Christmas fall at Leopardstown when jumping with exuberance to win the Grade 1 Flogas Novice Chase at the venue today, scoring under English-based jockey Noel Fehily.

The seven year old son of Milan was a costly fallen even money favourite on December 29 but today, under Fehily, jumped well and while joined at the final fence by Invitation Only picked up well on the run-in to score a three parts of a length win over Al Boum Photo

Afterwards De Bromhead said “I'm, absolutely delighted. He jumped brilliant and Noel was fantastic on him. Davy (Russell) couldn’t commit with Cheltenham in mind so Noel stepped in and we’ll rock on to Cheltenham now.”

“He's some horse and it has been fantastic to get him here and I have to say it's a credit to everyone at home and there's a great team behind him and I'm delighted to get him back.

“We'll speak to the owners but the RSA (Chase) would be the obvious race for him at Cheltenham.

“It's brilliant for Noel as well.”

Quotes from Alan Magee