Road To Riches and Paul Carberry© Photo Healy Racing
Forty year old Paul Carberry rolled back the years with a second career win in the featured JNwine.com Champion Steeplechase at Down Royal today, steering Road To Riches to Grade 1 glory for his long time employer Noel Meade.
This year's Galway Plate winning gelding had been chinned on the line by veteran chaser Sizing Europe at Gowran on his previous start but made all in today's E140,000 race.
The son of Gamut jumped left throughout but maintained a strong gallop from the second last, to score a comprehensive 11 lengths win over Rocky Creek
Nine to four favourite Boston Bob under Ruby Walsh, never threatened and finished a well held third while Realt Mor (Davy Russell) fell before the race had properly taken shape.
Winning owner Michael O'Leary (Gigginstown House Stud)'s retained jockey Bryan Cooper rode First Lieutenant in the race but the decision proved the wrong one, with that gelding finishing well held in fourth.
Road To Riches was adding his name to an impressive roll call of previous winners (Beef Or Salmon and Kauto Star were dual winners), the race having been inaugurated in 1999 as Carberry steered Florida Pearl to his only other win in the race.
Winning trainer Noel Meade was registering his first success in the race and afterwards the former Champion Trainer, who has been supplying Carberry with winners since 1992, stated “that's terrific, everything went a dream.
“They left him alone in front and he had a couple of great jumps up the back which stretched them.
"This was always the plan; he was a bit undercooked going to Gowran and is still slightly heavy today - five or six kilos 'over' from Galway.
“He's a good horse and I'll probably leave him now until Christmas where we'll go to the Lexus if it's not too heavy.
“I'd love to go for the Gold Cup, but there's more things to be done and he's not going to have his next run in the Gold Cup.
"We changed his training regime and diet completely from Punchestown on and it has made a big difference."
Boylesports gave the winner a introductory quote of 25/1 for the 2015 Cheltenham Gold Cup.
By Thomas Weekes, quotes from Michael Graham
