Grand purchase moves past E100,000 mark

The Willie Mullins trained Listen Dear recorded her eighth career win at Limerick today, winning the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Chase and in the process breaking through the E100,000 in a rags-to-riches career.

Bought for just E1,000 when sold as a foal in November 2010, the daughter of Robin Des Champs bounced back to winning ways today when moving her winnings to E112,940, under a dashing front-running ride from jockey Paul Townend.

Afterwards Patrick Mullins, representing his absent father Willie, stated “she is so slick over her fences - she isn’t big but has so much scope and Paul had a big grin on his face there and wanted to go around again.

“We’ll look for something similar if we can find a similar race but on that good ground over the summer tracks, she’ll be very hard to catch. There is no long-term plan but Galway Plate is an option - she’ll probably get an entry but could also go back over hurdles.”

By Tom Weekes