Mullins opens festival with a bang

By Caitriona Fenton

The opening day of the 2010 Punchestown festival saw Willie Mullins pull off a Grade 1 hat-trick. The Carlow-based trainer had an amazing festival last year with 12 winners including four Grade 1s and could well match that this year if this winning streak carries on.

The first of the winning trio came in the form of Blackstairmountain in the Champion Novices’ Hurdle with the Mullins-trained Flat Out coming in second, the ground suiting the former better. The 6:05 Champion Chase saw 12/1 Golden Silver prove his class as he beat the consistent Forpadydeplasterer and favourite Sizing Europe.

Mullins did not have to wait long to celebrate another win as 35 minutes later he looked on as Kempes and A.P. McCoy stayed on strongly to capture the Grade 1 Champion Novices’ Chase, beating China Rock, with another Willie Mullins-trained horse The Midnight Club back in third.

As we all know it is usually Ruby Walsh’s name that appears in lights along with these kinds of notable wins but due to the unfortunate nature of the game, Ruby is confined to the commentary box this year with a fractured arm. This time around the reins were handed to rising star Paul Townend who partnered Golden Silver and Blackstairmountain to success. The 19-year-old has had immense success in recent years especially obtaining chances to shine whenever Ruby is unavailable.

The talented youngster began his career on the pony racing circuit with the Dingle Derby being the pinnacle of this budding career. He soon rose up the ranks in flat racing with his first winner being The Chip Chopman but it wasn’t long before he was making waves in the National Hunt scene. In 2008 he won the Galway Hurdle on Indian Pace. His first Grade 1 win came on Hurricane Fly at Fairyhouse that November.

It’s not surprising that Townend is such a natural talent as it clearly runs in his family, his father trains horses and he is a first cousin of Davy Condon who also had success in yesterday’s ‘3’ Handicap Hurdle on the Joanna Morgan–trained Jigilo.

The first race of the day was in memory of regular racing character Fr. Sean Breen and also proved eventful. The race evoked memories of Cheltenham when it saw Nina Carberry and Katie Walsh fighting out a finish again. This time though it was Nina who stayed on to be first past the post on Zest For Life. Trained by the banks specialist Enda Bolger, the six-year-old raced prominently all through the race and jumped impressively. Bolger had a monopoly on the race with four runners, three owned by J.P. McManus, Chance Your Arm, George Travis and Outlaw Pete, with the winner owned by Dermot Cox.

The €100,000 Goffs Land Rover Bumper was won by Divine Rhapsody, a four-year-old by City Honours who, unlike most of the other runners, was bought for a small price, just €6,800. He was trained by Philip Rothwell and ridden by amateur Mikey Fogarty.

The closing race was also a Bumper. The Willie Mullins–trained favourite Laganbank made the running but weakened turning into the straight. In the end it was Spanish Treasure who won easily under Robbie McNamara.

It will be really interesting to see if Mullins and Townend can continue their successful partnership throughout the week, with so many fancied runners to look forward to such as Hurricane Fly, Cooldine and Quevega. He will have many more chances.

By Caitriona Fenton