See also » Mullins-lands-tenth-Irish-Gold-Cup-with-Bellshill
Ruby was fantastic. We didn't want a slow pace and he didn't think there was much pace in the race so he elected to make it. Then when Sean went by him Ruby was happy to sit there. What I really liked about the horse was that every time Ruby wanted a jump he took two lengths out of the one in front. He knew that he had that in hand and he was very confident and cool over the last three fences, I thought. He used the other horse as a lead. I thought he might pull out more after the last but he pulled out enough. A lot of horses didn't turn up but still the quality horses were here and they served up a fantastic race. We might have a few nice horses to go to Cheltenham with this year. He's always promised to be this good. Now he's won his Irish Gold Cup and hopefully we'll follow on, maybe, next month. He was very good at Christmas but he needed it. Road To Respect was unlucky at Christmas but we needed it. W P Mullins, trainer

A steeplechase for five yrs old and upwards
Weights - 5-y-o 11st 3lb; 6-y-o and up 11st 10lb; Mares allowed 7lb