Trainers’ championship duel has the makings of a classic already

SATURDAY belonged to Willie Mullins while yesterday went the way of Gordon Elliott in the latest instalment of a rivalry which will once again illuminate the jumps season over the coming months.

There will be a lot of water under the bridge between now and the season’s end on May 1 next year, but the pair’s ongoing battle for the Irish trainers’ championship could be more thrilling than ever.

Mullins has been crowned champion for the past 13 seasons, and 14 times in total, but Elliott has forced the Closutton maestro to raise his game to unimaginable heights in order to fend him off and this season’s duel is set to be the most dramatic of them all.

Elliott has never hidden his thirst to be champion while it is privately acknowledged that the Michael O’Leary-owned Gigginstown House Stud will do everything in their power to help him achieve that before departing the racing scene in the coming years.

While losing O’Leary’s business forced Mullins to reinvent himself with a host of new owners lured to his Carlow yard, Elliott has done likewise with Cheveley Park Stud – owners of yesterday’s Grade One-winning duo Envoi Allen and Ballyadam – one of many to come through his gates in recent times.

Elliott, who had four seconds at Fairyhouse on Saturday before notching four winners yesterday, tends to hit the ground running from flagfall each jumps season with Mullins generally playing the long game and peaking later each season, but the reigning champion was in electrifying form as combined with stable jockey Paul Townend to bag a treble on the opening day of the Winter Festival.

Cheltenham heroine Concertista (6/4 favourite) landed the Grade Two Mares Hurdle at the Meath track in eye-catching fashion under a hugely confident steer on her first start since hacking up in the Mares’ Novices Hurdle at the Festival in March.

“We’ll probably look for something at Christmas and whether it’s a mares’ race or she takes on the boys I’m not sure,” Mullins said of the six-year-old.

Mullins, who also watched Hook Up (10/11 favourite) cruise to maiden hurdle success by 12 lengths, was also smiling when Albert Bartlett Hurdle winner Monkfish (1/3 favourite) wowed on his fencing debut in the beginners’ chase over 2m5f.

The six-year-old, now as low as 3/1 hotpot for the RSA Chase, looked every inch a future Gold Cup contender after a “very impressive” display with Mullins (left) confident that he will be even better over the larger obstacles. Victory for ex-Mullins inmate Yorkhill (66/1) in the Listed Rehearsal Handicap Chase at Newcastle on Saturday must also have brought a smile to his face after the multiple Grade Onewinner rolled back the years for new trainer Sandy Thomson and jockey Ryan Mania.

Champion Hurdle winner Epatante (8/11 favourite) also impressed on Tyneside in the Grade One Fighting Fifth Hurdle when making a winning seasonal return under Cork pilot Aidan Coleman in a dramatic renewal.

There was no such drama in the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury, though, with Jonjo O’Neill’s Cloth Cap (9/1) turning the prestigious handicap into a procession as Tom Scudamore’s mount ran the opposition into the ground.