Joseph O’Brien celebrated his third Grade 1 success in less than a year at his beloved Leopardstown as Le Richebourg stormed to victory in the feature Racing Post Novice Chase on day one of the Christmas Festival.
The strongly-supported 3-1 shot could be called the winner some way from home and cruised to victory in the hands of Mark Walsh by four and a half lengths from stalemate Us And Them who completed a 1-2 for O’Brien.
There was an upset in the Grade 2 Knight Frank Juvenile Hurdle as Rocky Blue landed the spoils for the father and son combination of Tom and David Mullins at odds of 14-1.
Fair weather and top class racing gave rise to a fine attendance of 13,218.
A very fair day on track resulted in seven trainers and six jockeys sharing the spoil across the opening day card.
