Ascot Chase: Fakir D'Oudairies wins; The Galloping Bear triumphs at Haydock
- Published
Fakir D'Oudairies fought off the challenge of Two For Gold to take victory in the Ascot Chase
Fakir D'Oudairies claimed a hard-fought victory to become the first Irish-trained winner of the Ascot Chase.
The 9-4 favourite, trained by Joseph O'Brien, held off the challenge of Two For Gold (25-1) with Fanion D'Estruval (9-2) third in the Grade One contest.
"I'd like to dedicate this to my uncle, Michael Walsh, who died during the week," said winning jockey Mark Walsh.
"He was a great man, a great racing fan, and he would have loved to have seen this today. This one is for him."
Fakir D'Oudairies was behind the frontrunners as Dashel Drasher and Lost in Translation set the early pace.
But Dashel Drasher, last year's winner, faded with three fences to go and it left Fakir D'Oudairies and Two For Gold to go head-to-head, with Walsh praising his horse's stamina.
"He was able to stick his head down and battle up the hill," he added. "It's the horse that gets you out of trouble."
Earlier on Saturday, 9-2 favourite The Galloping Bear swept to victory at a soggy Haydock to triumph in the Grand National Trial.
The Merseyside course passed an early inspection to proceed following Storm Eunice on Friday.
The Galloping Bear, trained by Ben Clarke and ridden by Ben Jones, managed to close the gap on leader and five-time Haydock chase winner Bristol De Mai (11-2) with two fences remaining.
Nigel Twiston-Davies' beaten 11-year-old held on in the final stages to secure second place ahead of Time To Get Up (22-1) in third.
Goshen, ridden by Jamie Moore for his trainer father Gary, held off Adagio to win the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton for the second year running.
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