Natural talent Monkfish foot perfect in victory as he bags first Grade 1 chase

Willie Mullins summed it up in a sentence. "He looked hugely natural, he looked like a handicapper," was the champion trainer's assessment of Monkfish after the big giant of a horse enhanced his reputation with a foot-perfect performance in the Grade 1 Neville Hotels Novice Chase.

Monkfish was born to jump fences and nothing last season's Albert Bartlett winner has done over the larger obstacles would suggest that he will not go right to the very top.

Mullins has a plethora of talent in the senior staying chase ranks, but in Monkfish we may well be witnessing the heir to the throne of Al Boum Photo – he is that exciting.

"He looked natural over fences," Mullins said. "Today was just his second run over fences taking on horses with more experience on a Grade 1 track over a longer trip. He looked hugely natural, he looked like a handicapper."

He added: "He's a real old-fashioned chaser with lots of scope, he loved it every time he saw a fence – he just wanted to jump it.

"Paul [Townend] said that he loved it when Bryan Cooper came up on his outside. He only clicked into gear then and Paul thought he was idling in front the whole time – he said he had plenty left."

Just a neck separated Monkfish from Latest Exhibition in the Albert Bartlett back in March, but Mullins' charge had three lengths to spare from his old rival at the line.

Monkfish and Paul Townend are too good for Latest ExhibitionCredit: Patrick McCann

It may have been a decisive victory in the end, but Mullins revealed afterwards that he was not so confident when Latest Exhibition loomed upsides the 1-2 favourite turning in.

He said: "There was never an awful lot between them. I don't think Latest Exhibition attacked the first couple of fences, which gave our fella a bit of an advantage. We jumped perfectly all throughout the race."

Mullins added: "I said to Paul that I was worried turning for home, but Paul said to me, 'no, he was just idling.' He was getting that feel the whole way round.

"He won't run between now and the Dublin Racing Festival and will come back here for the Flogas Novice Chase."

Monkfish hardened into a general 2-1 chance for the race formerly known as the RSA Chase following the victory, while Latest Exhibition was shortened up by most firms into a general 10-1 chance for the same race.

The second's trainer Paul Nolan described the performance as the best over fences from Latest Exhibition and is not ruling anything in or out going forward.

Nolan said: "There was only a jump in it and in fairness to Bryan, he accepted defeat once he knew he wasn't going to win, but it was the best run this season from our fella. He disappointed us the last day but we felt there were reasons for that and we tweaked a few things with him.

"We'll see if we can tweak a few more things and he seems to be coming right. We'll have a sit down with the owners and decide where they want to go next."

Watch Monkfish see off Latest Exhibition to win the Neville Hotels Novice Chase

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