CAPTAIN Guinness (155) recaptured his form of old with a dominant front-running display to win the Grade 2 Fortria Chase at Navan.

Making the running may not have been Rachael Blackmore’s Plan A although, thanks to Riviere D’Etel (153) jumping right at the first fence, she found herself in front, a position her partner then consolidated with an accurate jump at the second fence.

Jumping fluently from that point, the seven-year-old was comfortable in the lead and recorded his fastest time figure since finishing second to Energumene in a Naas novice chase in 2021.

The only other chase on the card saw Hollow Games (122+) make a successful start to his chasing career, albeit in a very slow overall race time which was 23secs slower despite the difference in race distance being just a furlong.

The final circuit time comparison saw the novice winner close the gap on his more experienced counterpart to just 1.5secs or seven and a half lengths.

Gordon Elliott’s five-year-old jumped like an experienced chaser throughout and following his best leap of the round when asked to attack the second last Jack Kennedy encouraged him to quicken to the line. The result was a finishing sectional of 44.3secs, which compared favourably to the 45.2secs it took Captain Guinness to cover the same ground.

Of those in behind the winners, I would be negative about Riviere D’Etel on account of her tendency to jump right which became more exaggerated as the race developed. In contrast, I’m positive about Limerick Lace (111+) in the novice chase and she looks a handicap project for later in the season.

Naas on Saturday saw the chase debut of another Gordon Elliott star novice in Three Stripe Life (120+) who made a winning start over fences. Not unduly pressed to win on his first chasing venture, the overall time was slow as was the circuit time with Jeremys Flame (150) 4.6secs quicker on the final lap. The Drinmore Chase is next for last season’s Ballymore Hurdle runner up.