Like mother, like son for Facile Vega and the Closutton team

Facile Vega lived up to his name with a consummately easy debut victory in the bumper at Leopardstown on Sunday.

The four-year-old son of sizzling sire Walk In The Park and the champion mare Quevega put in a performance reminiscent of his dam in her pomp to run out a convincing six-length winner in the hands of Patrick Mullins, who was very taken with the manner of Facile Vega's success.

The jockey said: "He was very good, he relaxed brilliantly, covered huge ground and was a quicker horse than I thought he'd be. He is his mother's son. I was always doing a half-speed on him and I was worried I was going too slow but obviously not."

Bred by the Hammer and Trowel Syndicate, in whose colours Quevega won six successive Mares' Hurdles at the Cheltenham Festival, he is trained by Willie Mullins, who masterminded Quevega's glittering career.

Facile Vega is the second runner and winner out of the 16-time winner, whose triumphs also encompassed four Grade 1 Ladbrokes World Series Hurdles at Punchestown.

The daughter of Robin Des Champs is the dam of Princess Vega by Beat Hollow. She won a hurdle as a four-year-old in the Hammer and Trowel red and blue and was offered for sale in foal to Order Of St George at last month's Tattersalls November National Hunt, where she was bought back for €30,000.

Quevega is the dam of a three-year-old sister to Facile Vega and has a two-year-old Camelot filly and a yearling daughter by Australia. She returned to Walk In The Park to be covered in 2021.

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