Irish Gold Cup: Conflated wins at Leopardstown for Gordon Elliott

Conflated caused a major upset to win the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown from Minella Indo and Janidil.

The 18-1 outsider, ridden by Davy Russell, held off runner-up Minella Indo (11-2) to hit the front down the back straight and take the win.

Janidil (7-1) finished third with 5-2 favourite Asterion Forlonge fourth on day one of the Dublin Racing Festival.

"He jumped super and did everything really, really well," said Russell of Conflated, trained by Gordon Elliott.

"He jumped straight as a die, he can hang a bit but nothing today.

"It was either one or the other - I was either gone too soon or they would never catch me. To be fair to the horse, he kept responding. The more I pulled out of him, the more he responded."

Conflated was never too far from the pace-setting Frodon and defending champion Kemboy and travelled sweetly for Russell.

It was the second victory in this race for Elliott, who also won with Delta Work two years ago.

"He got into a lovely rhythm. I was keen to run him during the week," said Elliott.

"I wanted to find out where I was going, how good or bad he was. I know he's a horse with a massive engine, but he can be very hot and cold."

Conflated's odds for the Gold Cup at Cheltenham have been slashed to 8-1 from 66-1.