'What an engine he's got' - Jimmy Mangan has something special in Spillane's Tower as he grabs another Grade 1

There will be a phenomenal band of Grade 1 chasers racing in the famed green and gold silks of JP McManus next season and Spillane's Tower will be an integral part of that team after he gave trainer Jimmy Mangan another stellar day by landing the Grade 1 Dooley Insurance Group Champion Novice Chase.

The six-year-old gave Mangan a special success in the WillowWarm Gold Cup at Fairyhouse last month, providing the immensely popular trainer with a second success at Grade 1 level, 16 years after Conna Castle gave him his first in the same race. This was a bigger test.

A significant step up in trip, drier ground and the presence of the Brown Advisory runner-up Monty's Star all seemed considerable obstacles for Spillane's Tower, but he showed everyone why his trainer believes he has "class to burn". 

The market could not split the winner and the Henry de Bromhead-trained Monty's Star as they went off 5-2 joint-favourites, but Mangan's stable star got the better of the argument close home, displaying great valour to win by three-quarters of a length under Mark Walsh.

After returning to a winner's enclosure bursting with goodwill for the Cork man, Mangan said: "What a man JP is for racing, and without the ammunition you can't fire the gun. 

"There's nothing like it, it's a wonderful, wonderful game. For the McManus family to breed a horse like this, it's just the icing on the cake. I'm delighted to be delivering the goods for them." 

Mangan added of his winner: "He looked the real deal from day one. I just said if there's an engine inside him, we're away and thankfully there is. What an engine he's got and he's got class to burn. 

"I was confident, we never lost confidence in this horse. He's only six and he definitely has a future ahead of him."

Jimmy Mangan (left) is congratulated by JP McManus after Spillane's Tower's victoryCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Spillane's Tower joins Fact To File as a dual Grade 1-winning novice chaser in the McManus silks this season. Inothewayurthinkin also scored at the highest level at Aintree, while Corbetts Cross has already made his mark in open company, when finishing third behind Gerri Colombe in the Bowl at Aintree last month. Grand National winner I Am Maximus is another star chaser for McManus.

If he wasn't already, Mangan, himself a Grand National-winning trainer, can start to dream big with his stable star, who was cut to 16-1 (from 33-1) for next season's Cheltenham Gold Cup.

He said: "I wouldn't like to run him on tight ground as he's a big horse. That was my worry all week so I was delighted to see the rain. 

"We had tried him at two miles and he was telling us he wanted further. He won over two and a half and was always going away at the finish.

"As the fellow says, I was coming to the end of the road, but this really puts me back on the motorway again!"

With a gem like this in the stable, it's full steam ahead.

Read these next:

'He keeps surprising me and keeps improving' - Mystical Power now 12-1 for Champion Hurdle after another Grade 1 win 

Good things come to those who wait as Banbridge swoops late to pip Captain Guinness in Champion Chase thriller 

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