Tag Archive for: Top Novices Hurdle

Mystical Power stars with Aintree victory

Mystical Power fended off the renewed challenge of Firefox to win the TrustATrader Top Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree.

Trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Mark Walsh, Mystical Power – who runs in the green and gold of JP McManus – has long carried plenty of expectation as a son of Galileo out of Champion Hurdle winner Annie Power.

He came close to emulating his dam as a Festival winner when finishing second in last month’s Supreme and finally graduated to Grade One glory here.

Walsh was happy to settle in the pack through the early stages as Lookaway raced to the fore, but with three to jump, Mystical Power (11-10 favourite) was clearly travelling best of all.

He took it up before jumping the last from Firefox and while that rival battled back gamely on the run to the line, Mystical Power was half a length too good.

Mullins said: “I’m delighted to win a Grade One with him. Rich (Ricci) has a share in him because he owned the mare, obviously, so it means a lot. For the mare herself to have a Grade One winner is special.

“We started off lowly with him, he won a bumper at Ballinrobe so he obviously keeps a lot for himself for the racetrack. We just get him fit and let him do his own thing.

“We’ll have a think about Punchestown but he doesn’t owe us anything this year, we’ll see how he comes out of it. I was particularly taken with how he hurdled today, he barely came off the ground, like a real professional hurdler, and that’s what he looks like.

“We’ll see about next year, he doesn’t scream chaser to look at but I’m sure he’d make one if we wanted, we’ll see at the end of the season what rating he has and what is left for him. Whether he can dine at the top table over two miles is another question.

Mark Walsh salutes the crowd
Mark Walsh salutes the crowd (David Davies for The Jockey Club)

“He’s upheld the Supreme form, it’s tough enough coming from Cheltenham to here but a few have done it this week.”

Walsh added: “I was there a bit too soon and wanted to wait a bit longer, but Jack (Kennedy, on Firefox) was going to close the door on me, so I had to go when I did. Thankfully, he kept at it all the way to the line – he’s a tough horse.”

Gordon Elliott was pleased with Firefox, saying: “I thought he ran a good race and there’s no real excuse. He got the run of the race and jumped well and we were beaten half a length, which is no disgrace whatsoever.

“He’ll most definitely go chasing next season. He’ll be a proper two-mile chaser and the way he jumps a hurdle you’d say he wants a fence, he’s a good horse.

“He’s a very good looking horse and an exciting horse for next year, so we’ll look forward to that.”

Neil King also has lots to look forward to with Lookaway, who was third, beaten another nine and a half lengths.

He said: “He must have had an off-day in the race at Newbury (Betfair Hurdle), but today his jumping was fantastic. We didn’t even try to go to Cheltenham, we elected to run him over two miles here and hope we could exploit a chink in the armour of the others.

“I can’t wait to put him over fences, but if he bounces out of this there’s another race for him at Sandown in a couple of weeks.”



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Hullnback aiming for Aintree honours

Fergal O’Brien believes top novice hurdler Hullnback would struggle to handle the hustle and bustle of the Cheltenham Festival.

Connections of the six-year-old have therefore decided to bypass the meeting in favour of a return to Aintree, the scene of his runner-up effort in a Grade Two bumper at the Grand National meeting last April.

Hullnback has looked a smart hurdling prospect in each of his three attempts this term, finishing runner-up to Pikar at Chepstow in October and twice winning subsequently.

His defeat of Nemean Lion at Haydock the following month was franked when Kerry Lee’s runner was placed in the Grade One Tolworth Hurdle, and having justified odds of 2-5 at Warwick with ease off a 73-day break last time, O’Brien feels the potential must be nurtured.

“We just feel that Cheltenham would absolutely blow his mind,” said the in-form Withington handler.

“He’s a lovely young horse. He had good form round Aintree last year and he ran well the other day.

“As far as we are concerned, he has his whole career ahead of him, but mentally he is not ready for Cheltenham.”

O’Brien looks set to pit his charge against top-class opposition at Aintree, planning to give him entries in both the Top Novices’ Hurdle and the Mersey Novices’ Hurdle.

He added: “The plan is to go to Aintree. He’ll be put in the two and two-and-a-half-miler. Paddy (Brennan, jockey) and the boys are favouring the two-miler. We’ll enter him in both and see which one he’d have his best chance in.

Hullnback (middle) finished behind Lookaway at Aintree
Hullnback (middle) finished behind Lookaway at Aintree (David Davies/PA)

“We just felt that, all things being equal, there were more negatives than positives to go to Cheltenham.

“He’s young and he’s so very raw it’s not true. I would love to go to Cheltenham and both his owners wanted to go to Cheltenham, but in fairness they left it to myself and Paddy.

“We just felt, to give the horse the best chance going forward, Aintree was better for him.

“We know what we’ve got. When he gets on a lorry and gets to the track, he just turns into a thug.

“We thought Cheltenham in March would be like a cauldron for him to boil over. He could have run his race by the time he got to the bottom of the chute.

“Aintree is shorter walk from the parade ring to the track and he knows it, as he’s been there last year.

“If you saw him at home, you’d think he was a little pet. He loves attention, but he definitely has a bite to him.”



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