AES Champion 4yo Hurdle |
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| Grade 1, Punchestown 16:25 €100,000 added, 4yo, 2m, Class 1  |
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| Saturday 2nd May 2015 | |
1 Petite Parisienne 11/4F
2 Buiseness Sivola 9/2
3 Thunder Zone 20/1
NR: Punch Bag (IRE)
10 ran Distances: 8½l, 1¾l, 2½l
TIME 4m 9.30s (slow by 23.30s)
Petite Parisienne keeps the Willie Mullins bandwagon rolling at the Punchestown festival
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Willie Mullins' remarkable week continued when he saddled the first two home in the AES Champion Four Year Old Hurdle at Punchestown.
Having won the feature race with Annie Power, the champion trainer sent out Petite Parisienne to land the day's other Grade One event as she ran out a wide-margin winner over Buiseness Sivola.
The Closutton handler finished with 16 winners over the five days of the meeting and, amazingly, this was his 30th Grade One success of the season.
Partnered by Bryan Cooper, the 11-4 favourite could be called the winner some way out as she was travelling much the best of the 10 runners and she was clear in front at the last.
While she crashed through the obstacle, Petite Parisienne managed to recover and push on again to win by eight and a half lengths.
Cooper, who is a close friend of injured jockey Robbie McNamara said: "She's a tough filly, she loves soft ground and stays further as well. She will only get better next year. I was moaning things weren't going right earlier in the weekend, but things could be a lot worse."
Mullins added: "Compared to Annie Power it's like little and large, but she has a huge engine. I thought Bryan was in a bit of trouble caught on the inside at the fourth-last, but the minute she got daylight she picked up.
"Her change of gear was fantastic. She is a nice prospect. Bryan said she'd get further and there was no sign of her stopping. She could go for the Prix Alain du Breil at Auteuil if the owners want to go there."
AES Champion Four Year Old Hurdle (Grade 1)
€100,000 added, 4yo only, 2m, Class 1
10 ran
Going: Good to Yielding
| Pos | Dist | Horse SP | Jockey Weight | Trainer | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Petite Parisienne (FR) 11/4f | B J Cooper 10-7 |
W P Mullins | 4 | |
| 2nd | 8½ | Buiseness Sivola (FR) 9/2 | R Walsh 11-0 |
W P Mullins | 4 |
| 3rd | 1¾ | Thunder Zone 20/1 | P Townend 11-0 |
G Elliott | 4 |
| 4th | 2½ | Stars Over The Sea (USA) 10/1 | T Scudamore 11-0 |
D Pipe | 4 |
| 5th | 4¾ | Pain Au Chocolat (FR) 12/1 | Wayne Hutchinson 11-0 |
A King | 4 |
| 6th | 7 | Prussian Eagle (IRE) 12/1 | R M Power 11-0 |
C O'Brien | 4 |
| 7th | 8 | Qualando (FR) 7/2 | Sam Twiston-Davies 11-0 |
P F Nicholls | 4 |
| 8th | 8 | Matorico (IRE) 14/1 | M P Walsh 11-0 |
Jonjo O'Neill | 4 |
| 9th | 1¼ | Lettre de Cachet 33/1 | J J Burke 10-7 |
N Meade | 4 |
| 10th | 14 | Fiscal Focus (IRE) 7/1 | D E Mullins 11-0 |
D McDonogh | 4 |
| NR | Punch Bag (IRE) 50/1 | A E Lynch 11-0 |
B W Duke | 4 |
