Quilixios put on an impressive front-running jumping display to win the 2m Grade 3 Barberstown Castle Chase at Naas on Sunday.
Henry De Bromhead's charge capitalised on odds-on-favourite Marine Nationale's jumping errors to make all and score by seven-and-a-half lengths. Barry Connell's Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner failed to settle and lacked fluency at his fences on return from a layoff following well-publicised problems with his wind.
Marine Nationale never looked comfortable, with an error at the first setting the tone for the remainder of his race. A significant mistake two out confirmed favourite-backer's fears, as the seven-year-old lost all momentum while in the process of mounting a challenge against the eventual winner. Quilixios, on the contrary, was flawless over his obstacles, shaken up by jockey Darragh O'Keeffe before the last to win going away.
In an interview with Racing TV, winning trainer Henry De Bromhead remarked: "It's lovely to see him back in form again, he's got a lot of class. He was very good here back in January and it's nice to get him back.
[Looking to the future] there is the Tingle Creek or the race at Leopardstown.
"I think he goes on any ground; he won on very testing ground here in January. I worried that the ground might be just a bit too good for him, but he loved it."
Darragh O'Keeffe said: "We knew there was going to be a bit of pace in the race. Rachel (Blackmore) made the running last year, and he seemed to really boss the race.
"I was just going to let him roll over the first few fences and test the others out with jumping
"I pinged the second last and I thought when I got stuck into mine he picked up again. He is a very classy horse and really enjoyed himself.
"He's a high-class horse and hopefully he can enjoy stiffer tasks ahead – hopefully he'll be up to it."
Paddy Power reacted to the win by cutting Quilixios from 100/1 to 50/1 forthe Queen Mother Champion Chase. Marine Nationale has been pushed out to a general 16/1 from 9/1 for the same race on the back of his defeat.
