Kopek Des Bordes dazzles on Navan chasing bow

Kopek Des Bordes lived up to the considerable expectation around his debut over fences when taking the Pat Sheils Memorial Irish EBF Beginners Chase at Navan.

The Willie Mullins-trained five-year-old was twice a Grade One winner last season, taking novice hurdles at Leopardstown and Cheltenham before a fourth-placed run in the KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown.

He was the 2-9 favourite under Paul Townend to get his chasing career off to a winning start, and those odds looked more and more reasonable as he travelled round Navan.

Jumping neatly and making matters look very simple throughout, the gelding strolled to a five-length victory to remain the 5-2 joint-favourite with Coral for the Arkle, shortening from the same price to 7-4 for the race with Paddy Power.

Mullins said of the run: “I’m very pleased with that. He has to learn and get experience, and he got a fair bit today I think.

“When he sees a fence, he just wants to go and jump it. He’s very keen in that respect. As he goes up in grade, the pace will get faster and hotter and I think it will be all to his benefit.”

In comparison to the well-regarded Final Demand, who won his chasing debut at Navan on Sunday, Mullins said: “He has enough schooling done. This fellow was a bumper horse compared to a point-to-pointer, which Final Demand was.

“He (Final Demand) would have done a lot more schooling in his younger days, whereas this fellow has been schooling mainly over hurdles and a bit over fences.”

Mullins’ pencilled-in plans include Leopardstown over Christmas, the Dublin Racing Festival and the Cheltenham Festival, with the trainer saying: “That would look a sort of a plan at this minute – that will be route ‘A’ anyway.”

The winning jockey added: “I was very impressed with what he did. He figured things out for himself.”