MONALEE bounced back to his very best with a brilliant win in the Flogas Novice Chase at Leopardstown.
Henry de Bromhead’s chaser took a nasty fall on his last start over Christmas but he put in a spectacular round of jumping this time.
Given a bold ride by Noel Fehily who made all, there were plenty in with chances approaching the last.
Monalee was almost joined by Invitation Only, but Monalee’s proven stamina came to the fore and he eventually ran out a determined three-quarters-of-a-length winner.
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Al Boum Photo made late gains to claim second ahead of Invitation Only.
De Bromhead said: “Delighted, absolutely delighted with that. He jumped brilliant, Noel was fantastic on him and I’m just delighted.
“He has booked his passage to Cheltenham now and hopefully he’ll come out if it OK and we’ll rock on.”
Fehily said: “It’s tough to make all (the running) but he jumped brilliant and everything went smoothly so it was great.
“He’s obviously got loads of class, it’s unfortunate what happened the last say but he’s a very good jumper and he’s a high-class horse.”
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