Irish Hennessy Result: Sir Des Champs gets the better of Flemenstar

Sir Des Champs advertised his Festival claims

Sir Des Champs finally got the better of Flemenstar to claim Grade One glory in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown...

The Willie Mullins-trained seven-year-old fought off the late challenge of Peter Casey's stable star, who was held up for much of the journey

The winner's stablemate Quel Esprit, successful 12 months ago, set the pace in a four-horse affair but the race developed into a duel between the big two over the last two fences.

Andrew Lynch hung on to Flemenstar until after the last but he could not quicken to go past Sir Des Champs, who prevailed by a length and three-quarters.

Sir Des Champs has shortened for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, now trading at a price of 5.59/2 for the feature race of the Festival.

Mullins said: "He jumped well, did it well and it looks like there's more improvement. Every year he improves in the spring. He's been to Cheltenham twice and he loves the place. He loves that hill, so I'm hoping that he can show what he did the last two years, that he can keep improving coming into March."

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