• Flying run down the middle wins it for Gordon Elliott mount• Apple’s Jade victory made it a Leopardstown double for O’Leary“Five or six years” is Michael O’Leary’s best guess on how long it will take for his current battalion of novice hurdlers and bumper horses to work their way through the National Hunt system, and he was insistent here on Saturday that even an afternoon such as this one will not change his mind.
Delta Work charged hard and late to snatch the Savills Chase from Monalee in the final strides while Apple’s Jade returned to her brilliant best in the Frank Ward Memorial Hurdle, but the man whose Gigginstown Stud colours have landed dozens of the sport’s biggest prizes over the past 20 years is still determined to get out of the game. Indeed, O’Leary suspects he will not go racing once the last of his horses have headed into retirement.