Affordale Fury claimed a first Grade One success in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown on Sunday, holding off the most recent Cheltenham Gold Cup winners Galopin Des Champs and the 2024 Grand National winner I Am Maximus. Noel Meade's seven-year-old beat I Am Maximus by two-and-a-half lengths, with Galopin Des Champs next across the line, while Inothewayurthinkin, the 2025 Gold Cup winner, finished last of the nine finishers.
Racing prominently from the start, Affordale Fury appeared to be running out of steam when Galopin Des Champs took the lead at the second-last, but the favourite's familiar finishing kick did not materialise. After a sharp jump to his right at the final fence, Affordale Fury rallied again to secure a notable victory.
It was a breakthrough at the highest level for a horse whose career has been interrupted by injury. Affordale Fury was runner-up at 150-1 in the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham in March 2023, but subsequent breaks of 438 and 241 days left him with little opportunity to fulfil his potential. Sunday's race was just his fifth chase start outside novice company.
"When this fella was second in the Albert Bartlett, we were really looking forward to him as a chaser," Meade said. "He won his novice chase and then things went wrong on us, and he missed the whole of the next season. He worked the other day and worked the sight out of your eyes, he was unbelievable."
Meade, the last trainer other than Willie Mullins to win the Irish jumps championship in 2006-07, saw Affordale Fury cut to around 12-1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The market is unusually open, with Inothewayurthinkin top-priced at 6-1, Galopin Des Champs at 7-1, and Jango Baie, The Jukebox Man and Gaelic Warrior at 8-1, 8-1 and 10-1 respectively.
At Limerick, Final Demand continued his flawless transition from hurdling to chasing with an effortless eight-length success in the Grade One Faugheen Novice Chase. Last season's Baring Bingham third was cut to even-money for the Brown Advisory Novice Chase at Cheltenham on 11 March.
