Mystical Power gets off to Flyer at Punchestown
“He showed a
fair turn of foot there”
MYSTICAL Power moved to Supreme Novices’ Hurdle favouritism with a dominant display in the SkyBet Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle at Punchestown.
The Willie Mullins-trained fiveyear-old is impeccably bred as a son of Galileo out of the brilliant Champion Hurdle-winning mare Annie Power and could hardly have made a better start to his career for the powerhouse ownership trio of JP McManus, John Magnier and Rich Ricci.
Following a winning debut in a Ballinrobe bumper in May, Mystical Power made a successful switch to hurdling at Galway two months later — and having sidestepped the rearranged Lawlor’s of Naas Novice Hurdle on Friday, he was sent off at 5-4 for his comeback in a Grade Two contest his trainer has previously won with the likes of Vautour (2014), Douvan (2015), Min (2015) and Impaire Et Passe (2023).
Mark Walsh — looking to complete a big-race double in the McManus colours following Grade Three success aboard Spillane’s Tower in the previous contest on the card — settled his mount at the rear of the four-runner field for much of the two-mile journey while his stablemate Lombron adopted a pacesetting role.
There was the odd moment of worry for Mystical Power’s supporters, with his rider having to get lower in the saddle on the home turn, but the further he went the better he looked and he rocketed clear in the straight to score by seven lengths from Jigoro.
Mullins’ assistant David Casey said: ‘I was very impressed with him, he wouldn’t show that at home. He seems to save his best for the track, which is a great trait to have.
‘We were a little bit worried about the ground today as he’s coming from a summer campaign. We were a little worried if he would handle that heavy ground, but it looks like he went through it very well.
‘Mark rode him a couple of weeks ago and thought he had improved hugely from when he had rode him earlier in the year. He showed that today.’
Sky Bet make the winner their 9-2 favourite for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, just ahead of fellow McManus-owned ace Jeriko
Du Reponet — trained by Nicky Henderson — at 5-1.
‘At the moment you probably wouldn’t go any further than two miles until you have to. Mark said he rides a lot quicker on the track than he does at home,’ Casey added.
‘I thought he showed a fair turn of foot there. I know the camp have the second-favourite for the Supreme as well so they might want to split them up, but at the moment until you have to you wouldn’t go further, I think.’
Frank Berry, McManus’ racing manager, said: ‘Hopefully he’ll have learned a little bit jumping wise today and you could only be very pleased with him. We didn’t know coming here how he was going to cope with the ground, but he coped with it quite well.
When asked if he could run again before Cheltenham, Berry added: ‘The experience part of it would do him good but we’ll leave that up to Willie.’
Also on the Punchestown card, Spillane’s Tower inflicted a shock defeat on red-hot favourite Blood Destiny in the Betting Better With SkyBet Novice Chase.
The Grade Three contest has an illustrious roll of honour in recent years, with Carefully Selected, Envoi Allen, Bob Olinger and Impervious the last four winners, and the Willie Mullins-trained Blood Destiny was a 2-5 shot to add his name to the list following an impressive fencing debut at Naas.
Just as he did a month ago, Blood
Destiny set out to make every yard of the running in the hands of Paul Townend, and for much of the twoand-a-half-mile contest he appeared in complete control.
However, it became clear on the run to the final fence he had a real race on his hands as Mark Walsh conjured a late charge from Spillane’s Tower (7-1), who was bidding for back-to-back course wins for trainer Jimmy Mangan and owner JP McManus.
Blood Destiny was still in the lead jumping the final fence, but he was unable to resist Spillane’s Tower’s finishing kick, with two lengths separating the pair at the line.