Paul Townend

The victory in the feature race on day two completed a double on the afternoon for the Cork jockey after his earlier success on Impaire Et Passe.

“He was just never going, jumping the third I was thinking ‘he’s not going to win anything’. “He didn’t run to his best in the Clarence House Chase, but he has really shown his class today. He just gets the horses ready for the Cheltenham Festival like no other. He jumped brilliant, we came here hoping we’d be placed and we were. I did make it to the Brighton game after being here last year, but I missed the first 20 minutes! It was all on Energumene and he takes all the pressure unbelievably well. “The horse just loved the ground and loved jumping. The rain in the last couple of hours has been a big boon. That’s the way the race worked out and he had it right. “He is a brilliant horse. He said: “We were really confident going in, he’s run a tremendous race. Hopefully he can hold that sort of form for next year.”