Malone Road continued to boost his reputation as one of the most exciting young horses in training for the bumper division at present when impressing at Punchestown.
An impressive winner of his four-year-old maiden at Loughanmore over Easter, when achieving one of the highest ratings for a four-year-old winner, the Jane Buchanan-owned and bred son of Kalanisi, was then sold for £325,000 at the Goffs UK Aintree sale to Gordon Elliott and Bloodstock Agent Tom Malone.
The bay gelding has gone from strength to strength since then, with his rules debut at Down Royal earlier this month creating a real stir, as he produced a striking turn of foot, to win the bumper on the JNWine.com Champion Chase card by seven and a-half lengths.
Once again sent off as an odds-on favourite for he second outing in the bumper division at Punchestown, the manner of his performance was no less impressive, as he recorded his biggest margin of success to date, when taking the Mervyn Gray Construction Bumper by eight and a-half lengths under Jamie Codd.
Gordon Elliott was understandably impressive by the manner of his victory, and the Cheveley Park Stud-owned four-year-old will now be aimed at the Grade 1 Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival in March, for which his price was cut drastically on the back of his latest success, and he is now top-priced at 6/1, as the ante-post favourite.
Wow - Malone Road looked good on debut at @Downroyal a few weeks ago and he might have looked even better here, trouncing the highly-regarded Mt Leinster in the finale at @punchestownrace for @CoddJJ, @gelliott_racing and @CPStudOfficial: pic.twitter.com/8VWbqGF9jz
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) November 18, 2018
