Townend bounces back to help Mullins clean up
A day after Paul Townend’s “brain fade” in Tuesday’s Champion Novice Chase when, with the race at his mercy, he steered Al Boum Photo around the last fence instead of over it, the jockey bounced back to ride a treble and helped Willie Mullins sail past Gordon Elliott in the Irish trainers’ championship.
On a day when it was all one-way traffic for Mullins, who saddled six of the seven winners, Pravalaguna soon restored the smiles to both the trainer and Townend when winning the novice hurdle. Then, needing all his strength, the jockey got Next Destination home in a tight finish to the Irish Daily Mirror Novice Hurdle.
It was fitting in the light of Tuesday’s events, that it was Townend’s win on Patrick’s Park in the handicap chase that put Mullins, completing a 9,802-1 six-timer, in front of Elliott for the first time this season with a lead of €48,161 (£42,094.88) having begun the day €405,838 behind.
Mullins’s other winners were Bellshill, ridden by nephew David, who led home Djakadam for a stable one-two and the lion’s share of the €270,000 prize-money in the Coral Punchestown Gold Cup, while Tornado Flyer spearheaded a Mullins one-two-three in the Champion Bumper.
After Next Destination’s victory, Mullins said: “That was a great performance from horse and rider. Paul has been cool under pressure. I am delighted for him and the crowd are delighted for him, which shows how well thought of he is here.”
Referring to Tuesday’s drama Mullins said: “Everyone was disappointed but that happens in sport and in racing you get a lot of it. We insisted Paul came in this morning good and early, so we got plenty of slagging into him and treated it the same as if it were a day down in Ballinrobe or some country race meeting. That’s it. Paul had to stand and take it and he took it – it was just funny!”
Townend, who had earlier explained that he thought he had heard a shout telling him to bypass the last fence on Al Boum Photo, said: “That reception meant a lot. I am trying to put yesterday behind me and move on. We have a job to do today, which is the mentality I came with. Racing is good as a lot of people rally round you.”
Elliott, it seems, has one last big-race ace to play by declaring the unbeaten Ballymore Hurdle winner Samcro for tomorrow’s Betdaq Punchestown Champion Hurdle instead of the lessvaluable novice hurdle, but with Mullins fielding 32 runners today he could already be playing catch-up by then.
“Taking the ground, the smaller field, the chance to find out whether he is Champion Hurdle material and taking the prize money into consideration, we decided to go for the Champion,” said his owner Michael O’leary.