Death Duty © Photo Healy Racing
Grade 1 winning hurdler Death Duty made a winning chase debut at Tipperary today when justifying 1/5 favouritism in somewhat dramatic fashion in the www.tipperaryraces.ie Beginners Chase today.
The 149 rated novice hurdler jumped a little deliberately at times and while clear of chief rival Cap D’Aubois approaching the final fence, Death Duty’s jockey Davy Russell was intent on popping the last, as he eased up on the clear leader.
The pair jumped the fence slowly, allowing Cap D’Aubois a chance, but to Death Duty’s credit he moved swiftly through the gears on the run-in to peg back Cap D’Aubois and win by three parts of a length.
An impressed winning trainer Gordon Elliott, who has long held Death Duty in high regard, later stated “that’s job done. You get messy races like that but he never came out of second gear.
“He (Russell) said he was so brave the whole way, he was trying to get him to pop. He said going down to the last, I didn’t want to give him a kick going down to it as he could turn upside down, so he said ‘I had to sit and get in close’.
“He is a very good horse and the one thing he has to be, to be a champion is he has heart. He could have got beat there when he made the mistake but to be a champion you have to have the heart.
“He has won over 2m4f last year and I’d imagine we’ll find one more race and then the Drinmore, all being well.
"If he went down and winged the last, he’d have won six or seven lengths on the bridle but he could do no more than what he did.”
