Champion Hurdle target for Klassical Dream

Horse Racing

Racing365
May 1, 2019 9:16 am

Klassical Dream will be targeting the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in 2020 after an impressive win in the Herald Champion Novice Hurdle.

The Willie Mullins-trained five-year-old was well backed to win the race on the back of his the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.

And he didn’t disappoint, providing Mullins with another win at Punchestown on Tuesday afternoon as Ruby Walsh guided him to a five-and-a-half-length win.

Gordon Elliott’s Felix Desjy claimed second on the back of his Aintree win, while Mister Blue Sky settled for third.

Mullins said: ‘Ruby said he was too settled and was not as pleased as he was in Cheltenham, but I thought in Cheltenham he just ran very free.

‘You can’t keep racing like that and I was much happier with today’s performance, albeit the second horse has been to Cheltenham and Aintree and had two very hard races.

He’s a fair machine, but we were the beneficiary of him having those hard races today.

‘ Looking ahead and Mullins dismissed the possibility of taking Klassical Dream on to jumping bigger fences as he is focused on next year’s Champions Hurdle.

He added: ‘I’m happy to stay over hurdles and try to make a Champion Hurdle horse out of him.

I think he could be good enough, so we’ll see.’