Mullins’ Kiss Will wins well on Irish debut

French import Kiss Will (4/11f) made a pleasing Irish debut today, landing the Fairyhouse, Racecourse Of The Year 2024 Maiden Hurdle for champion trainer Willie Mullins and jockey Paul Townend.

By Polish-bred stallion Tunis, whose career was exclusively spent over hurdles, Kiss Will finished runner-up in a Fontainebleau bumper in September 2023 and today reappeared when making almost all of the running to score easily, by 13 lengths from Costacurta

Kiss Will did survive a final-flight error and regarding that blip, Townend reported “if he’s going to be a good horse, he’ll have to learn how to do that and is going to have to jump at speed. He found a leg, which was good.

“It was a match (with chasing Hello Jack finished third) from the time we jumped off and I had the better of that turning in. He lengthened well up the straight, handled the nicer ground well and showed a little bit more of a turn of foot than I thought, although other people at home had different opinions of him.

“I liked what he did: it was ‘out and get experience’ as much as anything today, and he’ll be an exciting horse with a future.”

Kiss Will was later cut to 16/1 generally for the Supreme Novices Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.

Quotes from Gary Carson