Majborough performed well in a brilliant victory in the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase at Leopardstown.

The Willie Mullins-trained six-year-old has struggled with his jumping ability since winning the Irish Arkle 12 months ago, making two serious errors at home that threatened to cost him the Arkle at Cheltenham, and he has also been beaten in his first two starts of the season at Cork and Leopardstown.

However, the application of cheek guards seemed to be having an effect and Mark Walsh led Majborough to race and jump with gusto from the start, the latter having him in his stride down the back straight.

Queen Mother champion chasing hero and 5-4 favorite Marine did his best to close the gap at home, but as he and the other chasers tired on the testing ground in the home straight, 2-1 Margerborough didn’t falter and passed the post with 19 runs.

“That’s the real horse Jieborough today. In Cork he couldn’t use his right hand and I tried to hold him behind the horse on the last day and when I came in I said we were doing the wrong thing,” said Walsh.

“His stride is his biggest asset, so Willie called me that morning and said we were going to put on cheek guards and let him roll in front. That made him the man he is today.

“He was looking at what he was doing today. The second fence he came up out of my hand and he had some power behind him.”

In the Championship Chase at Cheltenham, Majborough are 11-8 favorites with a record of 4-1 in the No-Contest No Betting market.

Mullins said: “Mark Walsh was very determined that he wanted to wear them and wanted to ride them his way. It’s all down to Mark.”

“He was fantastic. You could see Mark was enjoying it and the horse was enjoying it with him.

“The latter race was just poetry. I was worried he might not have enough gas in the tank in the penultimate race, but Mark was there to say to me that he had enough gas in the tank and he made an amazing jump at the end and galloped down the straight.

“I wondered if they were going to kill each other on the first three fences and leave the responsibility to the National Marines, but every jump he made, he missed half or a length of fence behind him, and it all paid off in the end.”