Balko des flos shocks un de sceaux in ryanair chase at cheltenham

By PA REPORTER 15:08 15 Mar 2018, updated 16:32 15 Mar 2018 SHARE OR COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE: Balko Des Flos stunned heavy favourite Un De Sceaux to cruise to victory in the Ryanair Chase at

Cheltenham. Owned by Michael O'Leary, who also owns the Irish airline sponsoring the race, Balko Des Flos came from the middle of the pack to stun the bookies' favourite on

Thursday. Favourite Un De Sceaux and veteran Cue Card were pipped to battle it out and that's how the race began with the pair leading the way through the early phases. The latter,

however, was forced to pull out of the race with five jumps remaining.  RELATED ARTICLES After following the leaders closely throughout, Balko Des Flos kicked on and ran away with the lead

after the third from last jump to claim what would eventually become a landslide victory.  A late push by Cloudy Dream wasn't enough to pull neither of the top two in as he crossed the

line in third. 2.50 - RACE RESULT  1 Balko Des Flos (D N Russell) 2 Un De Sceaux (P Townend) 3 Cloudy Dream (B Hughes) Winning jockey Davy Russell told ITV Racing after his win: 'Only

for Brian's (Hughes) help and obviously the doctors I wouldn't be able to do my job.  'I thought his chance had lessened with the more rain that fell. Henry De Bromhead is a

master at this, all credit to him and the team.' On Michael O'Leary winning his own race, he added: 'Isn't that an awful shame? He doesn't lose any money. 'Fair

play to him. He's a great man. He's a marvellous man for our sport.' RELATED ARTICLES SHARE OR COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE: BALKO DES FLOS TAKES RYANAIR CHASE AT CHELTENHAM

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