Mares' Chase favourite Allegorie De Vassy stars as O'Keeffe enjoys big double

Wednesday: Limerick

Allegorie De Vassy was cut to 9-4 favourite by the sponsors for the Mrs Paddy Power Mares' Chase at the Cheltenham Festival after making a highly impressive chasing debut for Willie Mullins in the Grade 2 Dawn Run Mares Novice Chase.

It was the first leg of a double in the two feature races for rider Sean O'Keeffe, who had to do little work aboard the mare.

He said: "She's very enthusiastic. She winged the first two fences and wanted to go on so I let her. I was more trying to slow her down most of the time.

"She has loads of scope. She's a very nice mare and hopefully she keeps progressing."

Owner Rich and Susannah Ricci's racing manager Joe Chambers watched alongside his family and said: "I would say she learned more from the mistakes at the last two fences than anything else. Sean won two on her last season and he feels that she has strengthened up a lot, but she has a lot of natural ability.

"We brought Benie Des Dieux down here to win her first chase and if she's half as good as her then we'll be fairly happy."

Maskada magic

The defeat of Bob Olinger and the no-show of A Plus Tard at Leopardstown were low points for Henry de Bromhead, but there were positives too and one came when Maskada landed the Tim Duggan Memorial Handicap Chase.

O'Keeffe had to be at his strongest to get the mare home from the final fence as the staying-on Rebel Gold mounted a challenge.

He said: "It's a nice race to win and in fairness she was very unlucky at Fairyhouse last time. Darragh O'Keeffe said she was going very well when she fell and he thought she'd give me a good spin.

"I wanted to get her in behind a few and relax, and she jumped very slickly the whole way. I thought I had them covered going to the second-last and she found a good bit. It was a very nice spare to get and I'm very grateful to Henry and the owners for giving me the ride."

Specialist Dev gets the money

Gallant grey Young Dev was a well-backed winner of the 3m handicap hurdle, once again showing his love of Limerick and heavy ground.

Second in the Midlands National last season but out of form in three starts this term, he bounced back to his best to record a fourth course success in the hands of Daniel King.

His trainer Denis Hogan said: "He's very reliable. He loves these conditions and loves Limerick. He just takes a while to get going every year but from here on he'll have his conditions.

"There aren't many races over extreme trips for him so we might well go back to Uttoxeter again."

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