THURLES again played host to Allaho (155+) as the Ryanair winner of last year completed his preparation to defend his Cheltenham crown with a second successive win in the Grade 2 Horse & Jockey Hotel Chase.

Paul Townend enjoyed an armchair ride as the eight-year-old posted a closing sectional from the third last of 58.4secs to seal the race impressing more visually than last year without matching the time-figure achieved when beating Elimay.

While acknowledging Allaho was nowhere near his best on the clock, the data posted by Ballyshannon Rose (145) was impressive in comparison.

Jack Kennedy produced his mount with a perfectly timed challenge to edge out in-form Jeremys Flame (144) in a driving finish which saw the mare post an overall race time just 1.5secs slower than Allaho. An accompanying closing sectional of 60.5secs also stands up to scrutiny when compared to her more illustrious counterpart.

There was merit to all the winning performances over hurdles with the most impressive time-figure posted by Pinkerton (130+) in the opening race.

Noel Meade’s gelding charged through the line in stopping the clock for the closing sectional at 52.8secs which was achieved against a stronger overall time than Light Brigade (128) who finished off in 52.9secs.

Gerri Colombe (126+) was the slowest of the three winners when adjusted for distance, although to his credit his closing sectional of 53.1secs formed part of a final-circuit time 0.9secs faster than Light Brigade and 1.7secs faster than Pinkerton.

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