Aspire Tower (right) and Rachael Blackmore© Photo Healy Racing
Aspire Tower moved towards the head of ante-post lists for the JCB Triumph Hurdle following a dominant front-running display in the Knight Frank Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown.
A high-class performer on the Flat for Richard Hannon and latterly Steve Gollings, the son of Born To Sea made a smart start to his jumping career with Henry de Bromhead at Punchestown last month.
Ridden from the front by Rachael Blackmore, the well-backed 15-8 favourite showed signs of his inexperience early on, but readily pulled clear from the home turn to land this Grade 2 by 18 lengths.
Paddy Power and Betfair cut de Bromhead’s youngster to 7-1 joint favourite from 20-1 for the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March, while BoyleSports go 8/1 joint favourite with Gary Moore’s Goshen.
De Bromhead said: “I thought he did it really impressively. He went a really good gallop and jumped great.
“The Grade One back here in February is an obvious race to go for, but we’ll talk to the owners and see what they want to do.
“He had the profile of one on the Flat that you would like to go hurdling with. I’d imagine good jumping ground would be alright for him as he’s run on faster ground on the Flat.”
