Thurles report: Appreciate It highlight of Townend treble

Paul Townend put the disappointment of Il Etait Temps’ crashing fall at Ascot behind him with a Sunday treble at Thurles, highlighted by a popular success for Appreciate It in the Horse & Jockey Hotel Chase.

The Willie Mullins-trained Il Etait Temps was a long odds-on favourite to claim his sixth consecutive victory in the Clarence House Chase, but looked beaten when coming to grief two fences from home.

After being on the ground for some time, the grey eventually got to his feet and he appeared to have emerged unscathed.

“All seems OK with him, we will put a line through it as he never went from the first fence,” Townend said on Sunday.

“It was too bad to read anything into but we’ll try to find out why that happened and hopefully he will recover in time for March.”

It is almost five years since Appreciate It trounced the opposition by 24 lengths in the 2021 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham and he recently turned 12.

But having finished second to subsequent Savills Chase scorer Affordale Fury on his seasonal debut over this course and distance, he was an evens favourite to land this Grade Two prize for the second year in succession and produced an exhibition round of jumping to beat his stablemate James Du Berlais by 12 lengths.

Townend said: “He has been such a good servant all his life and he shows huge enthusiasm for racing. He is a joy to ride, it’s push-button stuff and it is a great day to get back on him.

“It is only a situation of sitting on his back and trying not to fall off him! He is like a big, solid armchair and is a big unit of a horse. He is a gent, you could put anybody up on him and I really enjoyed riding and winning on him today.

“He still shows good enthusiasm for it and that is a credit to Mark (Rapple) and the gang at home, who keep him sweet.”

The six-time champion jockey opened his account for the afternoon aboard Espresso Milan (5-6 favourite) in the W.T. O’Grady & E.J. O’Grady Memorial Irish EBF Novice Hurdle, before Jade De Grugy stamped her class on the Grade Two Carey Glass Irish EBF Mares Novice Chase with a 18-length verdict.

He added: “Espresso Milan is a smashing horse and with him it is the old cliché that whatever he does over hurdles is a bonus. He even jumps hurdles like a chaser, but we won’t leave behind his hurdling career either.

“He’d have to improve again to win at the top level, but has probably earned a crack at one of those races now.

“Jade De Grugy jumped like a buck and settled well. She was just two grades above these and it was straightforward.”

Barry Connell was delighted to see Eachtotheirown bounce back to form as the 9-4 favourite for the Most Stylish Racegoers Handicap Hurdle.

Fifth in the Grade Two Royal Bond Novice Hurdle last time out, the seven-year-old successfully switched to handicap company in some style, with nine lengths the winning margin.

“Plan A was to go and win the Royal Bond, but that didn’t happen for him on the day and a few of ours were running below par at the time. The ball has bounced back now,” said Connell.

“I don’t know what mark he has run to today and I’ll have to talk to Tim (O’Driscoll, joint-owner) and decide plans, but I think he is top-class.

“He needs five runs to qualify for a County Hurdle, which is almost impossible for a novice, but he might go for a Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, although it looks a hot race this year.

“He is all speed and we are delighted to have him back to what we thought he was.”