Milkwood delivers Scottish Champion Hurdle glory in style

A long-term plan came to fruition for Neil Mulholland after Milkwood claimed a clear-cut victory in the Coral Scottish Champion Hurdle at Ayr.

The Somerset-based trainer revealed he has had the Grade Two contest as the primary objective for his seven-yearold ever since finishing fourth behind the high-class Sceau Royal in the Welsh Champion Hurdle at Ffos Las in October.

Since that fine effort, Milkwood had been third in the Gerry Feilden at Newbury and third again in the fiercelycompetitive County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

With the form of the latter contest significantly boosted by the subsequent Grade One success of the winner Belfast Banter, Mulholland's charge was the 3-1 favourite to get back on the winning trail at Ayr - and did so in impressive style.

After moving smoothly into contention under a confident ride from Sam Twistondavies, Milkwood took over the lead from Irish raider Ana Bunina after the final flight before pulling three and threequarter lengths clear.

Mulholland said: "He ran very well in the Welsh Champion Hurdle and Ayr is a very similar track, so we've had this in mind since then. It was the same type of race, but better ground and we're delighted it's worked out on the day. We were hopeful going into it, but it's hard to win any race, never mind a Scottish Champion Hurdle."

On future plans, he added: "The only race left for him (this season) is the Swinton Hurdle at Haydock. He'll probably go chasing at some stage, but I've got to speak to the owner and see what we're going to do. We'll enjoy today and see how he comes out of it."

Harry Skelton secured another valuable winner in the jockeys' title race as he guided Allmankind (11-10 Fav) to a runaway success in the Jordan Electrics Ltd Future Champion Novices' Chase.

The Dan Skelton-trained five-year-old did not entirely convince in the jumping department, but was ultimately far too good for his three rivals, passing the post with 19 lengths in hand.

Reigning champion Brian Hughes had to wait until the final race to register his first winner of the two-day meeting when Vina Ardanza (15-2) won the closing bumper.

Skelton leads by 146 winners to 140, ahead of the conclusion of the season at Sandown on Saturday.