Ornua recovers from Arkle fall to lead from start to finish in Maghull

The problem for the connections of Us And Them is victory always seems to go to them, not us. That's what happened again, as the six-year-old cursed with a serious case of seconditis found Ornua too hot to handle around Aintree's speedy track.

For a horse who enjoys racing from the front Aintree can provide rich pickings, as they did for Ornua, who led from start to finish under Davy Russell and came home a ready winner of the Doom Bar Maghull Novices' Chase.

In doing so he consigned Us And Them to a fifth consecutive second-place finish. The previous one of those had come in the Racing Post Arkle, in which Ornua crashed out when leading at the sixth fence, where his tumble caused Kalashnikov to part company with Jack Quinlan. That duo gained Grade 1 compensation on Thursday. Just two days later the same sort of compensation was enjoyed by the Ornua camp.

Ornua and Davy Russell pull clear to win the Doom Bar Maghull Novices' ChaseCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

By scoring he gave trainer Henry de Bromhead a third Maghull success in the space of seven years. The first of those came with the wonderfully enthusiastic trailblazer Special Tiara, who sadly died at Leopardstown in February. A horse like Special Tiara can never be replaced, but in Ornua De Bromhead has a horse at least shaped in a similar mould.

"It's great to win a Grade 1 and I thought Davy gave him a lovely ride," said De Bromhead.

"He'll do anything, but going from the front does suit him. He enjoys it. He's a very good horse and has done really well over fences.

"We'll have a look at the two-mile novice chase at Punchestown now. He deserves a crack at it and he hasn't been busy as he had a quiet winter."

Us And Them, sent off 3-1 joint-favourite with the winner, had a busier winter, but his honest exertions have still to yield the rewards he deserves. He again fought tenaciously to take second from Destrier in the closing stages.

Us And Them's jockey JJ Slevin said: "I'm very happy with him. I'd say the winner is a very good horse who loves that ground. My lad missed one or two fences along the way, which probably didn't help."

A tasty win on the Scoop6 helped John Phelan, who owns Ornua along with Syed Mornin. He won around £130,000 on that occasion. This victory won't match that success in terms of a financial windfall, but he was understandably more than happy with how the numbers added up.

Phelan said: "I bought Ornua at a low budget and you don't expect on a low budget to get a Grade 1 winner. I'm speechless."

Lalor started third favourite at 7-2 but finished a well-beaten sixth of the seven runners.

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