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Punchestown 2024
Punchestown 2024
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- Review kilbeggan 25th Apr
Review kilbeggan 25th Apr
< Borrowaddy gave Patrick Mullins a record-breaking winner with a comfortable success in the Sean Hughes Memorial Handicap Hurdle at Kilbeggan.
The Willie Mullins-trained six-year-old was sent off at 15-2 to atone for an odds-on defeat at Downpatrick last month and Mullins junior appeared full of confidence as he ranged up to join The Bay Lad jumping the second-last.
The jockey still sat motionless approaching the final obstacle before giving his mount the office to score with plenty to spare.
It was the 48th winner of the season for Mullins junior, breaking the record for the number of victories in a season for an amateur rider, previously held by Ted Walsh (1976).
Mullins junior said: "I'm delighted to break Ted's record but if he had been riding the horses I have been riding he would probably have ridden 60 or 70 winners!"< Moonlight Sapphire got off the mark over obstacles with a ready victory in the Kilbeggan Maiden Hurdle under Sean McDermott.
The daughter of High Chaparral was sent off the even-money favourite having been placed on two of her last three starts and having travelled strongly throughout, John O'Shea's filly powered clear from the final flight to score by 15 lengths from My Boy Ceejay
O'Shea said: "She did it well. She carries her head a little high but is not ungenuine. She is rated 68 on the Flat and she could go back for a staying handicap."< Leon Og improved markedly on two previous poor displays to open his account in the Kinnegad Maiden Hurdle.
The Dessie Hughes inmate was sent off at 16-1 having been beaten a total of 147 lengths on his last two starts, but he put those efforts behind him as he streaked home six lengths clear of Carheenlea
Hughes said of his Roger Loughran-ridden winner: "That's a surprise. He is a very backward horse and we felt he wanted good ground.
"We were very pleased with him the last day and he came on a lot for that. He is a chaser and to win a hurdle with him is a bonus. I suppose he will go for a winners-of-one somewhere now."
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