CHAMP IN BIG FIGHT CONTRACT

HUGELY impressive on his hurdling debut in Galway, the Willie Mullins (above) trained Champ Kiely might cope with a couple of battle-hardened rivals in the Allman Contracts Novice Hurdle on the final day of Listowel’s 2022 Harvest Festival.

The six-year-old has been lightly raced, unseating his rider in his only point-to—point (when with Pat Doyle) before landing a Limerick bumper, narrowly, on his racecourse debut in May, 2021.

We didn’t see him again until Galway almost two months ago but, sent to the front at half-way, he galloped his rivals into the ground, powering up the hill to beat Esperti by a massive 21 lengths.

The performance suggested Champ Kiely is more than a summer horse. And he gets an opportunity to prove the point today.

But it won’t be easy, facing Gordon Elliott’s 129-rated Lieutenant Highway, who completed a four-timer in a Bellewstown handicap last time, and the Peter Fahey-trained Ambitious Fellow, rated just 1lb lower.

Although dropping in trip, if Champ Kiely comes through this test, he’ll be bound for graded action.

Eoin Mccarthy has seen his horses figure prominently all week. And his Mattie’s Mountain, a good second to the classy Chemical Energy in a rated event here on Sunday, has solid claims in today’s Charlie Chute Memorial Handicap Chase, with Michael O’sullivan claiming a valuable 7lb.

Ray Hackett, who went tantalisingly close with Sequoiaspirit here on Monday, might enjoy better luck with Nibblers Charm in the M J Carroll ARRO Handicap Hurdle – he comes into the race on the back of a solid fourth to Finest Evermore in a similarly competitive race in Killarney last month.