Rebel Fitz firmly in Galway picture

Rebel Fitz put in a lovely round of jumping and took full advantage of Beachdale Lad #8217;s fall to comfortably land the featured Christy McSweeney Memorial Novice Chase at Killarney.

Barry Geraghty’s mount ran second throughout as Beachdale Lad led the way in the two mile six contest. However, Beachdale Lad hit the fourth last very hard and fell, depositing Mark Bolger.

This left a group of four – Rebel Fitz, Saint Gervais Churchfield Champ and Toner D’Oudairies – to contest the winning spoils.

From there Rebel Fitz showed his class and asserted to come in by 15 lengths and justify 9/10 favouritism. Churchfield Champ was second at 25s, a head in front of 16/1 chance Saint Gervais.

Trainer Michael Winters said: “Barry was happy enough with him and he’s probably only coming to himself. He’ll go straight to Galway. The options are open, he’ll go there for a novice or for the Plate. It’s 50/50, I’d love to win the Plate.”

Beachdale Lad had been well backed throughout the day from 11/4 down to 13/8 to complete his hat-trick. Unfortunately it proved to be a fatal fall for the talented six-year-old trained by Jessica Harrington as he sustained a broken leg.

Barry Geraghty said of Rebel Fitz: “He jumped well and he seems to be racing a bit more lazily than he did over hurdles. Beachdale Lad was full of running, but I still fancied my chances.”

Additional reporting by Alan Magee