Chacun Pour Soi © Photo Healy Racing
The 4/7 favourite Chacun Pour Soi bounced back from his disappointing run in the Tingle Creek to land his third Ladbrokes Dublin Chase (Grade 1) in the hands of Paul Townend. Dunvegan tried to keep tabs on Willie Mullins’ charge in the first mile but the winner led from halfway and asserted on the run to the last to beat that rival by a dozen lengths.
The winner has only once been beaten in nine starts on Irish soil which was when A Plus Tard got the better of him at this venue at the Christmas meeting in 2019.
Paddy Power cut him from 8/1 into 6/1 (non-runner no bet) for the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Winning trainer Willie Mullins said: "He's back to himself. He was very good all week and he trained very well.
“I thought I had him very ready the last couple of times and he disappointed so this week I decided I was just going to get him here at 95 percent and I think he's better like that.
“He's been pleasing me at home doing that so that's what I'll be doing for the future and hopefully I can get him across the water in that sort of form.
“He doesn't seem to bring his A-game when he gets on the ferry, whatever it is. Maybe I'll go undercooked rather than properly cooked the next time.
“Maybe the travelling takes something out of him as well. We always think a day on the boat is like a piece of work so maybe we'll do one bit less at home with him.
“He has never brought the sort of form he has brought around here to England.”
When asked how he would rate with Energumene he added:- “I would have put this fella in a different league all the time but that's before his two disappointing runs and obviously he's getting older.
“I think he's a star but he hasn't shown himself to be at his best in England. I think he has that day to come yet but maybe he's gone too old for that.
“We'll go back this year and try and put it right.”
Paul Townend told RTE Sport: “He’s fun to ride. He probably didn’t jump his best today, to be honest. I did feel that he screwed over a few but, at the third-last he started to come down out of the air a bit. He was quick away from it and I knew we were on the money then.
“He made a couple of mistakes in Sandown and I just thought that, early on today, he wasn’t as quick through the air as he normally is. But as the race progressed he was much better.
“To be honest, I love the horse and love riding him and I’m delighted for him. He’s been fragile all his life so hopefully he’s in one piece come Cheltenham, but certainly I, for one, am delighted that every time he comes to a racecourse I get the chance to ride him."
Quotes from Gary Carson
