A fine shot of Prince Of Fire jumping a fence on his way to victory© Photo Healy Racing
Despite not running over fences since November of 2011, Prince Of Fire sprinted clear on the run-in to easily land the feature race at Killarney this evening, the Racing Post Handicap Chase.
The Charlie Swan trained eight-year-old, who was a pound out of the handicap, was held up behind the leaders for much of the contest, before he closed in fourth entering the straight for the final time.
He was pushed along two out, but he stayed on well to come with his challenge at the last, soon hitting the front and ending the contest in a matter of strides, as he quickened clear to score comfortably by eight and a half lengths under David Casey.
The German bred son of Waky Nao was recording his eighth career success this evening and he was sent off at 6/1 after disappointed on his last start over hurdles at Bellewstown. Absolutlyfantastic was sent off the well-backed 11/10 favourite for Henry De Bromhead and Andrew Lynch, and he travelled strongly approaching the last.
However he had no answer to the winners run and he had to settle for second, while the front-running, Go All The Way (6/1) finished a length and a half back in third under Keith Donoghue for Jim Dreaper.
Charlie Swan said afterwards: "He really surprised me as he ran so badly at Bellewstown.
"For him, he jumped well today as he doesn’t shorten that well and he met every fence nearly right.
"He has a bit of class on the flat and everything just happened right for him."
Additional reporting by Alan Magee
