Alexander Banquet upstaged his stable companion Florida Pearl to win the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Leopardstown today. A bumper crowd had turned up at the rain-soaked Leopardstown track to see King George VI Chase winner and 6-4 favourite Florida Pearl land a fourth straight victory in Ireland's most prestigious chase.
But it was trainer Willie Mullins' second-string who earned the cheers with a gutsy performance under Barry Geraghty - on his first day back in action after three weeks on the sidelines with a fractured elbow. Alexander Banquet has had injury problems himself and had been restricted to just one outing since he chased home his stable mate in this race 12 months ago.
Yet there was no sign of rustiness as the 3-1 shot went one place better this time. Ruby Walsh had attempted to steal the race by setting a slow pace on Rince Ri but Geraghty tracked him throughout and moved up to dispute the lead at the second-last fence before asserting over the last. Rince Ri was third with Florida Pearl fading badly into a remote fourth place and Sackville a tailed-off last of five.
Recalling the finish, Geraghty said: "I saw Norman coming but I was never going to be headed. He's very tough and when he saw the other one coming he found more again." Mullins was delighted with the result, saying: "Alexander Banquet deserved to win a race like this. He was second last year when he was only three-parts ready so he had to have a big chance this year."
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
