American Tom scores on chase debut American Tom overcame a tendency to jump left to make all in the Alan Lillingston Memorial Beginners Chase at Punchestown. The well-backed evens favourite has obviously been difficult to train with a gap of over a year since his successful Irish debut in a Gowran Park novice hurdle. The French import put in some fine leaps between going alarming left at a number of fences but kept on well under pressure on the run-in under Ruby Walsh, who was partnering a treble for Willie Mullins and Rich Ricci on the card. The five-year-old had a length and a half to spare over Gangster at the line, with Bentelimar another 11 lengths back in third. American Tom is 10/1 with Boylesports, Paddy Power (from 14/1) and Betfair (from 16/1) for the JLT Novices’ Chase. Mullins said, “He hung a bit to his left but he’s a very inexperienced racehorse, and I hope it’s something that we can iron out. “Hopefully it’s not something physical and only greenness. He might prefer to go left-handed, and we’ll find another novice for him.”
