The Gr1 Goffs Irish Arkle Novice Chase at Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival on Saturday turned into something of a champagne celebration for local players when two horses with South African ties fought out the finish.
The Willie Mullins-trained grey Il Etait Temps, who runs in the Hollywood Syndicate silks and is owned in partnership with the Kieswetter family’s Barnane Stud, gained the upper hand in terrific fashion to register his second Gr1 success.
The runner-up Found A Fifty is a son of late Summerhill and Heversham Park Danehill stallion, Solskjaer, who was reinvented as a jumps sire when Gauteng breeder Nigel Riley shrewdly saw an opportunity after he failed to make the grade commercially on the flat in South Africa.
WATCH THRILLING FINISH IN RACE REPLAY, BELOW: