Favourite after favourite landed the spoils at Thurles on Sunday afternoon to the joy of punters.
All seven favourites won their respective races on an action packed afternoon at the Co Tipperary venue, with a number of Cheltenham Festival pointers to take away from the meeting.
But some of the victories weren't without incident as Paul Townend did incredibly well to recover on Allegorie De Vassy (1/8) to survive a scare at the first fence in the opening race before going on to win, while Haut En Couleurs fell at the last in the second contest as French Dynamite also made a bad mistake at it to leave Fakir D'Oudairies (7/4) to pick up the pieces and come home in front.
Those successes were followed by further favourite-winning victories for Stumptown (10/3), Belle The Lioness (2/7), Embassy Gardens (5/6), Hey Johnny (7/4) and Ferns Lock (EVS).
Although Haut En Couleurs' fall hurt the bookies as Fakir D'Oudairies landed the Grade 2 Horse & Jockey Hotel Chase, betting firms managed to 'escape a bullet' overall due to how short Allegorie De Vassy and Belle The Lioness' odds were, as well as other runners drifting in price and being replaced at the top of the markets.
Nicola McGeady of Ladbrokes said: “Haut En Couleurs fall was definitely the costliest of the day, as there was a massive swing between him and the winning favourite Fakir D'Oudairies.
"Overall though we really escaped a bullet and that is down to the extremely short prices of two of the seven favourites. Allegorie De Vassy and Belle The Lioness held no appeal at 1/8 and 2/7 respectively, while Ferns Lock and Stumptown weren’t the original favourites."
Embassy Gardens was the widest margin winner of the afternoon as he bolted up in the W.T. O'Grady Memorial Irish EBF Novice Hurdle under Townend for Willie Mullins.
The victory saw his odds slashed to 7-1 from 20-1 by Paddy Power for the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham.
“That was a bit more straightforward and he appreciates that step out to three miles,” Mullins said.
“He galloped them into the ground. I imagine the way he gallops through the line, he’ll take up his date in the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham. He doesn’t need a run before Cheltenham.
“Hopefully he stays sound and wins a nice novice race this year and he looks a real chasing type.”
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