The rejuvenation of Florida Pearl's Cheltenham Gold Cup claims was the cream on top of a day at Leopardstown on which the punting empire struck back with a vengeance.
Six winning favourites, including some of the white-hot Irish prospects for Cheltenham, left bookmakers looking distinctly pale. The on-course Ladbrokes betting shop at one stage ran out of money.
The gloating laughter that greeted this was reinforced by the widespread feeling that some of yesterday's favourites were only developing their taste for entering the winner's enclosure.
Nick Dundee is now as low as 7 to 4 favourite for the SunAlliance Chase after cantering home in the PJ Moriarty Chase. Alexander Banquet kept his unbeaten record in the Deloitte & Touche Hurdle and is second favourite to Barton for the SunAlliance Hurdle.
Throw in the Triumph Hurdle candidate Knife Edge, who landed the opener and now looks a serious festival contender, and there was a definite feel-good factor at Leopardstown.
The highlight was undoubtedly Florida Pearl's stylish success in the £100,000 Hennessy Gold Cup. Some fanciful comparisons to the days of Arkle and Mill House have been circulating since Florida Pearl first beat Escartefigue at Cheltenham last year, and while a re-visit to that kind of quality may be unrealistic, Florida Pearl oozed his own brand of style yesterday.
Always travelling smoothly, the strapping seven-year-old jumped superbly and when released by Richard Dunwoody after the third last, he quickly had the others in trouble. That Escartefigue fought back to get within two lengths of the 8 to 11 favourite was worrying in terms of Florida Pearl lasting out the extra quarter mile at Cheltenham, but trainer Willie Mullins was having none of that.
"The first year he went to Cheltenham we had to decide between the bumper or the four-mile amateur chase! I have no worries on that score. He raced rather keenly in the early stages, and a better pace at Cheltenham will suit him better," said Mullins, who suggested that Escartefigue may still be the horse to beat in the Gold Cup.
"I don't think any horse will run away from Escartefigue. David Nicholson says he is one of the best he has had and you have to respect that," Mullins added.
Dunwoody echoed that: "Willie told me the horse was schooling a little bit carefully at home, but from the start he was very good. I'm totally positive about him staying the trip at Cheltenham and the good thing is he hasn't been bottomed by having a hard race."
David Nicholson declared himself "chuffed" with Escartefigue and said it was only a possibility that his horse will wear blinkers in the Gold Cup. "I don't see why he has to. He did his best out there," Nicholson said.
Ladbrokes were so impressed by Nick Dundee's victory in the PJ Moriarty that they make the Edward O'Grady-trained gelding just 12 to 1 to win the Gold Cup in 2000. Nick Dundee made most of the running to beat Sarsfield The Man by an eased-down 15 lengths and is now clear favourite for the SunAlliance Chase.
"He is the best novice chaser I've ever had. For a stayer he has a wonderful cruising speed," said O'Grady, who added: "He is predominantly a soft ground horse, but I think he can get away with it on good ground on one or two occasions."
Willie Mullins also saddled Alexander Banquet to win and promptly nominated the SunAlliance Hurdle as the next target for last year's Cheltenham bumper winner. "He does nothing flashy but keeps pulling it out and we really don't know how much he has in reserve. Barton will be hard to beat but we're looking forward to it," he said.
Knife Edge beat his old rival Golden for the third time this season in the opener and goes for the Triumph. But the hunter chase winner, Elegant Lord, is not certain to run again at the festival.
The last favourite finishing runner-up did not affect the 3,936 jackpot winners who each took £7.80 out of the £40,725 pool. The betting figures, however, were down. Bookmaker turnover was down £105,393 to £1,145,980 on last year and the Tote was down £38,238 to £355,793. The crowd of 17,888 was down 2,419 on 1998.
