Burgeoning star Road To Respect steals the show

It almost turned into a fairytale for Fairyhill trainer John Ryan, but in the end it was Road To Respect's Irish Daily Star Chase, another race to highlight the excellent form of Noel Meade's stable.

Road To Respect, who won a Cheltenham Festival handicap as a novice in March and followed up with a Grade 1 success at Fairyhouse, picked up where he left off with a victory that resulted in his Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup price being trimmed from 33-1 to 20-1 by Paddy Power.

It was a race run at a scorching gallop, set by Ryan's 25-1 outsider Kilcarry Bridge under Danny Mullins. He had a substantial lead for much of the way and the riders of the more fancied horses must have been waiting for the other shoe to drop and him to come back to the field.

But as the front-runner displayed the teak-toughness so often embodied by horses trained by Ryan, his rivals found themselves going up and down on the spot, with one exception.

Sean Flanagan is riding with terrific confidence and never came close to panicking on the winner, and barring something untoward he was always going to pick off the long-time leader from the final fence provided his stamina held out.

Now that he has shown that he stays the trip and stays it well, it gives Meade some good ammunition in this division with Disko set to appear at Down Royal in a couple of weeks.

The trainer said: "We had him and Disko in this race, but this horse comes to himself a little bit quicker. He's back well and did that well, we're not surprised as we thought he has come forward a lot since last year and has been doing everything very well at home. Sean thought he was a bit rusty early on but when he got there he got there really well."

Asked about how well he appeared to stay, Meade added: "His previous trainer Eoin Griffin couldn't believe we were running him over 2m4f last year, he always felt that he wanted a trip. He's matured into a nice horse. We can think about where we go once we get him home safe and sound, and everything is open to him now."

John Ryan was delighted but disappointed at the same time after his charge was outpointed so late. "I thought we had it. He's run a great race but it's disappointing to get so close," he said.

Favourite Minella Rocco, last year's Gold Cup runner-up, never really seemed to travel for Barry Geraghty and trailed in a one-paced fourth, four-and-a-half lengths adrift of third-placed Sub Lieutenant.

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