Classic Getaway makes winning start for new connections

PA Sport Reporters
May 25, 2021 5:19 pm

£570,000 purchase triumphs for Willie Mullins and Cheveley Park Stud.

Expensive purchase Classic Getaway made a successful debut under Rules in the concluding bumper at Tipperary on Tuesday.

Having impressed on his sole start in the point-to-point field in November, the five-year-old was bought for the eye-watering sum of GBP 570,000 the following month by leading bloodstock agent Tom Malone and trainer Gordon Elliott.

With owners Cheveley Park Stud removing all their horses in Elliott’s care in early March, Classic Getaway joined Willie Mullins and was unsurprisingly all the rage on his first start for the champion trainer in the Junction INH Flat Race.

Ridden by champion amateur Patrick Mullins, the imposing gelding travelled well for much of the two-and-a-half-mile contest before easing clear early in the home straight.

The 4-9 favourite looked green when asked to go about his business, but was ultimately in a different league to his rivals – passing the post with 15 lengths in hand over 40-1 shot Bolintlea.

The winning rider said: “He is a beautiful-looking horse and I think he was a little bit more expensive than a Rolls Royce Phantom! But I’m pretty sure Mrs (Patricia) Thompson (owner of Cheveley Park) will get more fun out of him than a Rolls Royce.

“He’s a big baby and that’s why I was keen to teach him and get him to stride out. He is a big baby at home for a five-year-old who had a point to point run and he’s not a bumper horse.

“I imagine he’ll go jumping later in the season – he wouldn’t have ran, only the ground was so wet and we said we’d get a run into him.

“Willie didn’t rush him and let him settle in. He didn’t have to run this season, but it just happened with the weather.

“I think he’ll continue to improve mentally.”