Having more chance to jump the key to making Footpad a better horse

If the Willie Mullins yard were a track cycling team, Footpad might once have been described as a domestique.

That was when he raced over hurdles. Over fences he has become a team leader. The man who bought him for Simon Munir and Issac Souede believes he knows why.

Asked if he had previously trained a horse whose profile had soared so steeply through the transfer from hurdles to fences, Mullins said: "I doubt it." Footpad has somewhat taken him by surprise. Not at all surprised is Anthony Bromley.