Paul Townend steers El Fabiolo home© Photo Healy Racing
French-import El Fabiolo put in an impressive performance on Irish debut in the opening two mile maiden hurdle in Tramore.
He dictated under Paul Townend and readily coasted clear before the second last. The five-year-old Spanish Moon gelding popped the last and sauntered in by an eased down 13 lengths. Tempo Chapter Two took a remote second at 10/3 and was nine and a half lengths in front of Hide And Seek (11/1).
El Fabiolo had finished third in a Listed juvenile hurdle at Auteuil in 2020 which saw him go off 2/7 favourite for this assignment.
Willie Mullins said: “He’s a nice recruit for Simon Munir and Isaac Souede. He shows me plenty at home and Paul said he was going easy at all stages.
“He does everything easy at home and showed me the same here.”
When asked how he would compare with previous maiden hurdle winners for the yard at this track like Laurina and Saint Roi he added, “He’s as good as any of them.”
Additional reporting by Alan Magee
