Meade on the right road at down royal

Noel Meade's Galway Plate winner Road To Riches lived up his name today when he landed the big grade one race, the JNwine.com Champion Steeplechase at Down Royal with Paul Carberry on board.

Paul Carberry made all the runing in today's contest to win the  valuable €140,000 race despite jumping to the left. Rocky Creek was second and Boston Bob finished third.

A previous winner of the race was Kauto Star and the Gold Cup at Cheltenham could be on the radar next March, but a lot will depend on the owner (Gigginstown).

This was Noel Meade's first success in the race.

“He's a good horse and I'll probably leave him now until Christmas where we'll go to the Lexus at Leopardstown if it's not too heavy,' commented the trainer in a post-race interview.

Another Meath trainer, Eamonn Delany won the opening three-year-old hurdle with Scooping at 50/1 while Robbie Power was also on the mark.

Paul Carberry completed a double and Godon Elliott was also in double form.

Not to be outdone, Barry Geraghty was in double form at Ascot today.