Beef Or Salmon pips The Listener

Racing : Beef Or Salmon reversed Lexus form with The Listener to land the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Leopardstown.

Racing: Beef Or Salmon reversed Lexus form with The Listener to land the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Leopardstown.

Michael Hourigan's charge, now a 10-time Grade One winner, was second to Robert Alner's grey over the course and distance last time out and had plenty to do two fences from home before making up acres of ground to score at odds of 11-4.

The Listener, the 9-10 favourite, ran another cracking race but could not match the determined finish of Beef Or Salmon, who powered to his third success in the famous race under a great ride from Andrew McNamara.

In similar vein to the clash at Christmas, The Listener set out to make all under Daryl Jacob and held a clear lead with a circuit to go.

READ MORE

Beef Or Salmon continued to take his fences with real gusto, however, and slowly ate into what had looked a near-insurmountable advantage.

The Listener also jumped with zeal but once Jacob took the penultimate obstacle, the eight-year-old began to show signs the tank was emptying.

By contrast, Beef Or Salmon looked full of running and came with a really positive challenge in the hands of McNamara, who raised the roof as he got Hourigan's 11-year-old over the line with three-quarters of a length to spare.