Willie Mullins perfectly begins his title defence as Fine Margin gets him off the mark for British campaign

Willie Mullins got off to a winning start in his defence of the British jumps trainers' title when his first runner of the new campaign, Fine Margin, won the opening 2m3f maiden hurdle.

The 1-9 favourite provided Mullins with his first victory at the track when finishing seven and a half lengths clear of On The Nose under Patrick Mullins, with Oval Street in third.

Fine Margin was scoring for the first time on his tenth attempt under rules, having raced four times for Mullins, including when finishing down the field in a handicap hurdle at the Grand National meeting at Aintree last month.

"He lost all his momentum at the last," Patrick Mullins told Sky Sports Racing. "When you're at those odds you don't have to do anything too cheeky and he won easily in the end.

"This race suited him. We campaigned him in decent company over the winter and wanted to try to get his confidence up today. This race worked well from a timings point of view."

Double for Burke

It was almost the perfect day for Keiran Burke, who recorded a double and could have had a treble had He'llstopatthetop not fallen when in front in the 3m2f handicap chase.

The trainer, who had three runners at the track, got off the mark when Sam's Amour produced a remarkable performance to finish 21 lengths clear of Ballyfin under Adam Wedge.

Burke and Wedge followed up in the 3m2f handicap hurdle with Danzini, who finished three and a quarter lengths ahead of Dear Ralphy, with the favourite Celtic Fortune in third.

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