Vic has Mullins smiling again
AFTER a pummelling in the last seven days, Willie Mullins was back on his feet when Killultagh Vic returned from the wilderness to win at Punchestown yesterday.
Mullins, whose runners had run unaccountably below their best last week, pulled off a training performance which has to rank as one of his best when Killultagh Vic returned in triumph after an absence of 714 days despite some dubious jumping.
“His engine is intact all right, but his hurdle jumping brain hasn’t changed much,” said Mullins. “Hopefully, everything will be all right over the next week and we’ll probably look for something over fences for him next time.
“The main thing is just to recover from this race and look for a target after that. I sort of wondered whether I’d stay hurdling with him this season, but the way he jumped there he’s not going to step up in class much more.” Killultagh Vic is one of the few to have beaten Thistlecrack in his pomp over hurdles.
“We schooled him over fences the other day, and, maybe that’s what was in his head, but he hasn’t the best reputation as a hurdler,” said Mullins.”
But Mullins refused to comment on Faugheen, who was dramatically pulled up at Leopardstown on Friday.
Faugheen, winner of the 2015 Champion Hurdle and only beaten once in his 14 races over hurdles, returned sound on Friday.
But whether that is still the case only Mullins knows.
BETWAY offer the bet of the New Year – 20-1 the top weight wins the Grand National at Aintree in April.
Blaklion is expected to carry top weight and is the 10-1 favourite. His trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies is hoping to win the race for the third time. THE SCOUT