Path D 'Oroux and Keith Donoghue (centre) © Photo Healy Racing
Path d’Oroux survived a scare to belatedly open his account over fences in the William Hill Top Price Guarantee Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham on Friday.
Although winless in 10 previous chase starts, Gavin Cromwell’s charge has been placed in several high-class contests, most notably finishing third in the Grand Annual at the Festival in March.
The seven-year-old was cramped odds to make the most of what looked a gilt-edged opportunity against a trio of rivals on his return to the Cotswolds – but odds-on backers would have had their hearts in their mouths when he stood off the fourth-last and hit the top of it.
Even after that the 8-15 shot had to knuckle down to keep himself in the fight under Keith Donoghue, but knuckle down he did and he just about got the better of the front-running Jazzy Matty by a head.
Cromwell saddled more winners at Cheltenham than all but the all-conquering Willie Mullins last season with nine in all, including a treble at this fixture 12 months ago, and the County Meath handler was delighted to get the campaign off to a flying start once more.
“It’s a great start and I’m delighted for the horse. It was a messy race, they went very slow and it turned into a sprint, but he got the job done,” he said.
“At the end of last season we said this was where he was going to go. We won this race last year with My Mate Mozzie and it’s great to win it again with this lad.
“He kept showing up and just fell a bit short in handicaps last season. He was going to win in Leopardstown one day when he collided with a horse of Henry de Bromhead’s (The Folkes Tiara) and came down. It was just one of those seasons for him.
“They were just hacking round there today and he just came up out of Keith’s hands at the fourth-last. He got away with it, thankfully.”
Path d’Oroux looks set to mix it between novice and handicap company for the remainder of the season.
Cromwell added: “He’s probably not good enough to mix it with the Grade One novices, but at the same time he has plenty of experience and early in the season he might just have the upper hand.
“It’s Cheltenham, it’s great to have a runner never mind a winner. The owners love it and so they should.”
Henry Daly’s Wyenot (7-1) became the first winner of the new season at Prestbury Park with a determined display in the curtain-raising Foundation Developments Handicap Hurdle.
Several challengers were queuing up to have a pop at the bold-jumping chestnut before the home turn, but she refused to yield in the hands of Alice Stevens, galloping on strongly up the hill to prevail by a length from the staying-on Anna Bunina.
“That is her style of running – she runs and jumps and loves good ground, so it all sort of fitted,” said Daly.
“She ran in the Listed mares’ novice here in April (finished third behind Golden Ace). She got in a bit of muddle and things didn’t quite work out, but she wouldn’t have beaten the winner if she’d started the week before.
“The reason we ran her today was because there wasn’t a mares’ race for her. We’ll have to think about where we go now, she might have to go up a bit into a slighter better class of race.”
