Star mare Impervious sets connections an enviable Cheltenham conundrum

Sunday: Punchestown

There was no doubting Impervious's quality when it came to taking on mares, but giving away weight all round to geldings in the Grade 3 Madigan Group Novice Chase looked – to almost borrow the words of an eccentric old NFL coach – to be a task for a horse from a different fire department.

After this performance though, trainer Colm Murphy and owner JP McManus may have some thinking to do after the daughter of Shantou remained unbeaten over fences after a narrow, yet decisive success.

Impervious always travelled under Brian Hayes, pulling clear with the runner-up from the second-last and, without her rider really having to resort to the whip, she wore down joint-favourite Journey With Me close home to score by half a length. The two pulled 22 lengths clear of the other two finishers Minella Crooner and Ha D'Or.

Murphy has trained his share of good mares such as the unbeaten Feathard Lady and World Hurdle runner-up Voler La Vedette in his time and this one looks every bit as good.

He said: "She answered a lot of questions today. It was a tall order to give weight to those boys, but I'm so delighted with that as the heavy ground was a tiny worry. She gives everything. She seems to still be improving. I haven't talked to JP or [racing manager] Frank Berry yet but I'm guessing we'll go straight to Cheltenham now."

Impervious was cut to 6-4 favourite (from 3) by Paddy Power for the Mrs Paddy Power Mares Chase at Cheltenham, but Murphy did not rule out taking on geldings at Cheltenham, saying: "I'd imagine the mares' race is the target but you wouldn't mind in one way taking on geldings as we'd be getting 7lb. We'll see how she comes out of it."

Right move to keep Tactical going

An absence of 1,158 days since winning a bumper at Clonmel in November 2019 was overcome with some aplomb by the Willie Mullins-trained Tactical Move, who completed an opening-race double for Mullins and Paul Townend after the victory of Impaire Et Passe in the Moscow Flyer.

This was equally impressive in a different way. The Stowaway gelding raced too keenly, jumped to his left throughout and flashed his tail on the run-in but overcame those negatives to score by five and a half lengths from outsider Stellium and the favourite Lets Go Champ.

Mullins' assistant David Casey said: "I didn't think he would be fit enough to do that, he's a fair animal I would say. Paul said he took a couple of blows and there is huge improvement in him. He was very keen and fresh and he was delighted with what he did. He said he can't wait to jump fences with him. He has to have a huge engine to do what he did."

Thief steals the show

Tactical Move was not the only lengthy absentee to score on the day, as Royal Thief defied an absence of 782 days to land the amateur national for Henry de Bromhead and Patrick Mullins.

De Bromhead said: "Patrick was brilliant on him. He said there was a fresh strip of ground out on the wing of the fences and he went that way. Fair play to him, it worked really well.

"We're in no panic with him and we have no major plans, so we'll see."

The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday