Savills Chase: Conflated wins at Leopardstown after A Plus Tard pulls out
Conflated chalked up an impressive victory in the Savills Chase after A Plus Tard withdrew with a joint injury.
Gordon Elliott-trained Conflated (2-1 Fav) won by five lengths at Leopardstown to put himself firmly in the Cheltenham Gold Cup picture.
ght-year-old, with Jack Kennedy on board, was followed in by Kemboy (18-5) and Fury Road (7-1).
Home By The Lee (7-1) battled to victory in the the Jack de Bromhead Christmas Hurdle earlier on Wednesday.
race was run in memory of Henry de Bromhead's son Jack, who died in a pony racing accident at the age of 13 in September.
De Bromhead's mount Bob Olinger started favourite but was not in contention as Joseph O'Brien's charge Home By The Lee won by three lengths from Ashdale Bob (14-1) with Meet And Greet (50-1) third.
Conflated was a surprise winner of the Irish Gold Cup over the course and distance last season and went on to run well before falling two from home in Cheltenham's Ryanair Chase before pushing Clan Des Obeaux close in the Bowl at Aintree.
Expected to improve from his seasonal reappearance in the Champion Chase at Down Royal in October, in the absence of Cheltenham Gold Cup winner A Plus Tard, he ultimately outclassed his rivals.
Kemboy, winner of this race in 2018 and fourth, second and third in each of the past three years, adopted his customary pacesetting role under Paul Townend, but it was clear the soon to be 11-year-old was struggling to shake off the two years younger Conflated and Kennedy allowed him to stride to the lead heading out onto the second circuit.
In truth the market leader bossed the contest from there to home and Kennedy could even afford to begin celebrating on the run-in as he passed the post with five lengths in hand. Kemboy ran another brave race to be placed once more in second, with the winner's stablemate Fury Road coming from further back to take third.
"It was unfortunate that A Plus Tard couldn't run.- the race worked out well and Jack gave him a beautiful ride," said Elliott.
"Paul steadied the pace down and Jack let him stride on. He said the faster this horse goes, the better he'll be. I thought Jack was wonderful. He's not an easy horse and he's actually starting to settle now. He jumped perfect all the way.
"I'd imagine he'll come back here for the Irish Gold Cup but we'll have to talk to Michael and Eddie (O'Leary) and make a plan. There was a lot of talk last season about which race he would go for in Cheltenham but he'll definitely be going for the Gold Cup this year."