Mullins admits he's wrong as Asterion Forlonge victory sees him cut for Supreme

Willie Mullins is no stranger to winning the Chanelle Pharma Novice Hurdle but admitted he was "surprised" by Asterion Forlonge, the 4-1 shot who won the Grade 1 by nine and a half lengths and was subsequently slashed for the both the Supreme and Ballymore Novices' Hurdles.

Mullins revealed he always thought of the six-year-old as a stayer, but that opinion has now been altered after he handed the trainer his seventh win in eight years in the race, beating favourite Easywork following a prolonged duel.

Asterion Forlonge pulled clear in the straight under Danny Mullins to join Champagne Fever, Vautour, Nichols Canyon, Bleu Et Rouge, Bacardys and Klassical Dream on the recent Mullins-trained roll of honour in the race, while Ireland's champion trainer also won the contest in 1999 with Alexander Banquet.

Three of those seven – Champagne Fever, Vautour and Klassical Dream – went on to win the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, for which the sponsors made the winner 5-1 (from 16).

Asterion Forlonge’s owner Joe Donnelly has a dilemma on his hands as he also owns the Nicky Henderson-trained Shishkin, who impressed at Newbury last month and is the current favourite for the Supreme.

The Ballymore could be a viable option and was a path taken by Samcro in 2018, the only winner of the race not trained by Mullins in the last eight years. Speaking in his weekly column in the Racing Post, Mullins said of Asterion Forlonge: "He'll need longer trips in time but running here should point us in the right direction.”

It was a theme Mullins revisited in his post-race comments on Racing TV. He said: "He looked like he could be a Supreme Novice horse, which was the furthest thing from my mind three or four weeks ago. I always had him down as a stayer.

"It surprised me, I'm delighted. I had him down as two-mile-six or a three-mile horse. It looks like I’m wrong, he’s a two-miler.

"He has a huge cruising speed and I just said to Danny to go out and make the running. He’s never fast at home but he obviously covers a huge amount of ground and he can keep that gallop up for two miles flat out."

Sky Bet also went 5-1 for the Ballymore, although he is available at 10-1 with bet365 and BetVictor for the that race.

Aspire Tower crashes out as A Wave Of The Sea wins Spring Juvenile Hurdle

Joseph O'Brien claimed the Spring Juvenile Hurdle for the second year in a row with 12-1 shot A Wave Of The Sea but that told only half the story as favourite Aspire Tower crashed out at the final hurdle.

The trainer and jockey combination of Henry de Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore were hoping to continue their fine weekend at the Dublin Racing Festival, with Notebook and Honeysuckle winning Grade 1 races on the opening day.

A Wave Of The Sea (near) gets the better of stablemate Cerberus in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle at LeopardstownCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

However, 1-3 favourite Aspire Tower took a heavy fall at the last with the race still in the balance, and A Wave Of The Sea and Barry Geraghty pounced to overtake stablemate Cerberus in the final 100 yards.

Our Conor (2013) is the only winner to follow up in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham in the past 20 runnings of the Spring Juvenile Hurdle.

Aspire Tower, who appeared to come out of the fall unscathed, was pushed out to 8-1 (from 4) by Betfair Sportsbook and Paddy Power for the JCB Triumph Hurdle, while both firms cut A Wave Of The Sea into 16-1 (from 33) for the same race.

Goshen and Allmankind, trained by Gary Moore and Dan Skelton respectively, were both trimmed for the Triumph following the Spring Juvenile Hurdle, with the pair now disputing favouritism at a general 5-1.

Chris's Dream an Irish Gold Cup non-runner

The ground situation at Leopardstown was a major talking point again on Saturday, and the Irish Gold Cup will be without one of its most interesting protagonists as De Bromhead pulled Chris’s Dream out of the Grade 1 due to the going. Robbie Power, who was due to ride Chris’s Dream, will now ride Jett in the race (3.30).

However, there are not widespread non-runners like last year. On the second day of the 2019 festival, 22 horses were pulled out for ground-related reasons.

Brouder completes big-handicap double

Kevin Brouder's dream weekend at the Dublin Racing Festival continued as the relatively unheralded jockey completed a big handicap hurdle double with a well-timed challenge on Treacysenniscorthy.

The 8-1 shot, completing a four-timer for trainer Robert Widger, beat The Jam Man in the €100,000 William Fry Handicap Hurdle, a day after partnering the Charles Byrnes-trained Thosedaysaregone to win the €150,000 Ladbrokes Hurdle.

The 3lb claimer received huge praise for his latest winner on social media.

Black Tears – the 20-1 selection of tipster David Jennings on this week's new Racing Post show What A Shout – won an eventful opener on day two for Davy Russell and Gordon Elliott.

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