Carter Mckay successful on hurdles debut

For the fourth year in a row Willie Mullins landed the two mile maiden hurdle on Gowran Park's card with an odds-on favourite, as Carter Mckay obliged by a wide margin.

The six-year-old grey gelding was almost on terms with Mortal jumping the third last with Wings Like Arion a close third.

There was very little to separate the front two at the penultimate hurdle as Wings of Orion cracked.

Mortal soon came under pressure from Davy Russell and the pair yielded a narrow advantage to Carter Mckay at the last.

Mortal crashed out though, to leave Carter Mckay to come home clear by an eased down 15 lengths at 10/11.

Wings Like Arion took second at 33/1 with a further nine lengths back to Minellafordollars (7/4) in third. The latter dropped out of contention before the third last.

Winning jockey Paul Townend said: "He had experience from point-to-points but was very professional and handled the ground very well, as we hoped he would.

"I travelled the whole way down to the last and I think I was getting the better of Davy's horse (Mortal) at the last. I had the horse under me to keep going forward and I was going better than him.

"He'll come on plenty from that run and it was nice to get it out of the way."

Willie Mullins added: "Carter Mckay jumped like a chaser rather than a hurdler but he'll get better at it as the season goes on, I hope, and he appears to like that winter ground. He'll have no trouble going up in trip, being a point-to-point winner."

Carter Mckay won two bumpers last season before disappointing the Grade One champion bumpers at Cheltenham and Punchestown.

Paddy Power gave Carter Mckay a first show of 33/1 for the Ballymore Novices Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes