Racing

Vautour claims Moscow Flyer at Punchestown

‘I loved the way he fought back when he looked beaten’ - trainer Willie Mullins

Vautour, ridden by Paul Townend, wins The Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle at Punchestown. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire
Vautour, ridden by Paul Townend, wins The Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle at Punchestown. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire
Sat Jan 11 2014 - 21:02

Vautour was all out to land the odds in the Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle at Punchestown.

The 1-4 shot, trained by Willie Mullins, was pressed hard from the last by Western Boy and just got the better of that rival under Paul Townend.

Chicago made the running until Vautour went on after the second last, but the hot favourite, who is ante-post market leader for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham, did not have things his own way.

Townend was happy with the winner and he told At The Races: “The second is probably a good horse in his own right. He looked very good at Christmas in Leopardstown.

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“I was happy with my lad. He jumped well. I don’t think the other horse was ever going to go by me. I pulled out plenty when I needed to. I was happy with the performance.”

Mullins said of his three-quarter length winner: “He idled going to the last then fiddled it. When Paul asked him, he felt he had plenty in the tank and I loved the way he fought back when he looked beaten.

“He’ll come on from that. As he goes up in grade they will go faster, which will help.

“He was pulling too hard and using up petrol. I’d like to get another run into him before Cheltenham.

“I don’t know what distance we’ll go for. Maybe he’s more of a Neptune horse than a Supreme. He looks a real chaser in the making and that’s where his future is. “Western Boy is a very decent horse and the two of them of pulled well clear of the rest.”

Mullins and Townend completed a double when City Slicker (11-4) landed the

Punchestown Rated Hurdle by three lengths from 5-6 favourite Un Beau Matin. The trainer believes a change in tactics bodes well for the future.
“Frank Berry (owner JP McManus’s racing manager) suggested in the paddock we hold him up. It was a change of tactics,” the trainer told At The Races. “I didn’t think Paul would be able to hold him up, but he got him anchored in behind one or two and it worked and it’s opened up a whole new vista for him.
“Previously he’d been very free. At Ascot he ran himself into the ground. Now we might be able to get the ability he has out of him.”