Victory aboard Il Etait Temps in the Grade 1 Irish Arkle Novice Chase made it three-from-three for jockey Danny Mullins and trainer Willie Mullins at Leopardstown on Saturday.
The two mile Grade 1 contest was expected to be all about hot favourite Marine Nationale but four were in contention over the last fence - long time leader Found A Fifty, Facile Vega, Marine Nationale and Il Etait Temps. With Marine Nationale stumbling on landing and Facile Vega beginning to fade, it was left to Gordon Elliott's Found A Fifty and Il Etait Temps to fight stride for stride up the run in, with Mullins finding a little bit more.
Paddy Power reacted to the result by cutting Il Etait Temps from 10/1 to 7/2 for the Arkle Trophy and lengthened Marine Nationale from 8/15 favourite to 11/4 second favourite behind Gaelic Warrior.
