Noel Meade may not have the strength in depth that saw him crowned champion trainer on several occasions but in Realt Dubh he has a real stable star.
The seven-year-old was winning his third Grade One race of the season in claiming the Powers Gold Cup at Fairyhouse.
This one may have been slightly more fortuitous than his two previous top-level wins at Leopardstown earlier in the season but, as Meade said, jumping is the name of the game.
Many will feel that Paul Nolan's Noble Prince was about to follow up his win at the Cheltenham Festival as Tony McCoy appeared to have things under control at the head of affairs heading to the second-last fence.
However, he met it all wrong and took a heavy fall, leaving Paul Carberry to coast home 11 lengths clear on the 9-2 chance ahead of Loosen My Load. Yet again Mikael D'Haguenet disappointed and he looks a shadow of his former self.
It will have been a bitter-sweet success for owner Derek Sharkey as his father Des owns Noble Prince.
Meade said: "The fences are there to be jumped. We'll see how he comes out of this before deciding if we go for the two-mile novice at Punchestown.
"Paul said the ground at Cheltenham was too tacky, and he got caught in it and lost his action. The ground suited him much better today."
Carberry had earlier arrived late on the scene to win the Family Day at Fairyhouse Novice Handicap Hurdle on Tony Martin's Nearest The Pin (10-1).
"We've always thought he was a good horse and he's a super leaper. Hopefully he'll make a proper chaser some day. He's had a few problems but seems to go on any ground and will stay further," said Martin.
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