Majborough motors to Triumph Hurdle victory

‘He’s some beast,’ says Willie Mullins.

Majborough announced himself as a star of the future as he toughed it out to land a Willie Mullins dominated JCB Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

Held in the highest regard by the master of Closutton, the juvenile went into plenty of notebooks when an eyecatching third behind Kargese at the Dublin Racing Festival, and it was that duo who fought out the finish at Prestbury Park.

With Danny Mullins keen to keep a tight hold on Kargese, Mark Walsh cut a relaxed figure aboard the JP McManus-owned Majborough and after the second-last they were chief among the Mullins-trained battalion that emerged to swamp the forward-going Salver.

Heading to the last it appeared Kargese held the advantage as Majborough wandered around, but they jumped the final flight in unison, after which the stamina reserves of the 6-1 winner came into play as he was pushed out by his rider to strike by a length and a half.

It was McManus’ third win in the Triumph Hurdle following the victories of Ivanovich Gorbatov and Defi Du Seuil and it continues the Closutton dominance of the race, with Mullins winning it for the fourth time in five years.

He said: “I’m surprised at his price of 6-1 – I expected him to be favourite, he was my pick of this race.

“A lot of mine have been improving all season for their second run. I couldn’t get him out at Christmas, but I got him out at the Dublin Racing Festival and I think he needed that and I think Mark learned a lot about him.

“He came back in and said he was going to make all the running on him next time, which was the plan today and he was only fifth or sixth going round, so that shows how strong the pace was, but he jumped beautifully.

“When he came in the yard and they said he was a Triumph hope, I thought he looked more like a Gold Cup horse – he’s some beast.”

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