'I was impressed' - Scarlet And Dove back to her best with Grade 3 success

Sunday: Fairyhouse

Joseph O'Brien's stellar holiday period continued with victory in the feature race of the day as Scarlet And Dove came right back to her best for an impressive success in the Grade 3 John & Chich Fowler Memorial EBF Mares Chase.

On her last start the daughter of Jeremy had been soundly beaten by Dolcita in a Listed contest at Clonmel in November, but she turned the tables convincingly on that rival here.

The pair travelled well with all to play for between the final two fences and were split by almost the width of the track, but it was Scarlet And Dove who found the best turn of foot from the last under Bryan Cooper, with the duo full value for the four-and-three-quarter-length victory.

The nine-year-old was beaten just half a length by Elimay in the Mrs Paddy Power Mares' Chase at last season's Cheltenham Festival and a return there in March is on the cards.

O'Brien said: "She's always a difficult mare to get fit and she has always improved from her first run of the season. We felt she had come on from Clonmel.

"I was impressed. You had two good mares sprinting up the straight and the third home [Ballyshannon Rose] is a good mare too, and they left her behind. It was a good performance.

"She will probably have one more run before Cheltenham. She ran well there last year and there is no reason why she can't do it again."

Mullins pair impress

James Du Berlais, a good hurdler in France, had not been seen since finishing second to stablemate Klassical Dream in the Grade 1 Champion Stayers Hurdle at Punchestown 20 months previously.

Here, on just his third run for Willie Mullins, he put up a terrific display to land the 2m5f beginners' chase on his debut over fences.

Ridden by Daryl Jacob, he set a searching gallop and jumped superbly with the exception of one slight mistake. His opponents were strung out from very early on and remained so as he scored by 15 lengths.

Mullins' assistant David Casey said: "It's great to get him back on the track, he's just had a couple of issues but he was good and fresh out there today. It was a good performance and he jumped brilliantly, he'll be fine."

He was not the only Mullins horse who impressed, as the Irish debut of the JP McManus-owned Indiana Dream in the 2m4f maiden hurdle could not have gone any better.

In what was a deep race, he spread-eagled the opposition under Luke Dempsey to score by 15 lengths.

Casey said: "He's a beautiful, big horse and had been doing everything right at home. He won a one-mile-seven-furlong bumper in France, which he did well to do considering his size.

"There's plenty of improvement in him and he can progress. There are no major plans but we'll find something, although winners-of-one races are hard to find."

Dempsey has not ridden many winners for Mullins, but he did land the Martin Pipe at Cheltenham for him in 2015 on Killultagh Vic.

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