Willie Mullins 'never lost faith' in Ballyburn as top prospect cut to 15-8 favourite for Brown Advisory after Grade 1 win

Ballyburn overcame some early overexuberance to banish the memory of his defeat to Sir Gino at Christmas with a game triumph over dual Grade 1 winner Croke Park in the Ladbrokes Novice Chase.

Having dropped back to two miles for that Kempton reversal, a first in six starts, he was keen here in Paul Townend's hands, and there was clearly a determination to teach him to settle over this extra five furlongs now that a step up to three miles beckons. 

Townend resisted the urge to let him stride on, taking a lead from stablemate Champ Kiely, and succeeded in harnessing sufficient energy for the business end. 

Sent off at odds of 8-13, Ballyburn led on touching down two out, but Sam Ewing was marking him all the while aboard Croke Park as the pair of them shook off Champ Kiely. Ewing succeeded in keeping his mount alongside Ballyburn as they approached the final fence, and then it was a question of putting the favourite's jumping under pressure. 

He duly got a flying leap out of Croke Park and Ballyburn was not quite as flamboyant, but, when Townend got after him, he gradually ground down his game rival, who was suffering a first defeat over fences. 

Ballyburn had stretched five lengths clear at the line with a similar gap back to Impaire Et Passe, who kept going after jumping poorly in behind. 

It was a resolute performance from the winner that saw him clipped from 2-1 to 15-8 by Paddy Power for next month's Brown Advisory at the Cheltenham Festival. 

"He is learning all the time," Townend said of his jumping. "We were lengthening down to the last and I just wasn't fast at it. Sam really flew it, but I thought I had a little bit up my sleeve, so that when I gave him a slap his class would kick in and it did." 

It was Townend's sixth win in the race. Willie Mullins now has double that many, and this was his fifth in six years. 

"I never lost faith in him," the champion trainer said of Ronnie Bartlett and David Manasseh's talented seven-year-old. "Kempton lit him up so he was fairly lit today with Paul, but he eventually got him settled and he was afraid to move on him then in case he took off again. 

Willie Mullins (left) with Ladbrokes Novice Chase winner BallyburnCredit: Patrick McCann

"Paul had just been getting him from A to B over the jumps, but he flew from the last. 

"Kempton was disappointing, but I knew after two or three jumps that he needed to learn very quickly and he didn't. He is bred to get three miles. It was fascinating that he was able to do what he did over two miles. Everyone had him down as a three-miler, but when you look at his page he isn't.

"He's back on track now. All the schooling we did at home has paid off. He still has a lot to learn about settling in a race and once he does he could be a fair weapon over three miles."

Brown Advisory Novices' Chase (Cheltenham, March 12)
Paddy Power: 15-8 Ballyburn, 11-4 Dancing City, 15-2 Lecky Watson, 8 Jango Baie, 10 Croke Park, Better Days Ahead, 14 Quai De Bourbon, 16 bar.

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