Ballyburn proved he was the real deal with an empathic victory in the Grade 1 Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle on day two of the Cheltenham Festival.
Having saddled Envoi Allen to land the spoils at odds of 4/7 two seasons ago, Willie Mullins looked almost certain to continue his stranglehold on the day two opening contest, with Ballyburn sent off 1/2 to become the shortest-ever price winner of the two-mile five-furlong Grade 1 prize.
An impressive winner when dropped back in trip in Grade 1 company at the Dublin Racing Festival last month, there was much deliberation leading up to the Festival as to what contest Ballyburn would line up in. However, with the Mullins team feeling, correctly, that they could land the Cheltenham curtain raiser with firepower elsewhere, Ballyburn was given the task of stretching the trainer's record to seven.
With Mullins saddling five of the seven going to post, it was hardly surprising to see Mercury take the field along, allowing Townend to sit perfectly on the leader's heels on the inside of the Ben Pauling-trained Handstands.
Although slightly keen throughout the early stages with his customary low-head carriage, it quickly became apparent that Ballyburn had plenty more to offer when turning for home full of running. Townend barely had to let out an inch of rein for the Flemensfirth gelding to establish a healthy advantage and with the minimum of fuss, Ballyburn cruised up the Cheltenham hill for a facile thirteen lengths success.
Rank outsider Jimmy Du Seuil filled the runner-up spot for team Mullins, who saddled the first five home on a day that could see him reach a landmark one hundred winners at the Cheltenham Festival.
"It's the first time he's wowed me, I thought 'wow, what a performance' and to me that was a Champion Hurdle performance," said Mullins, who could hardly contain his excitement over the Ronnie Bartlett-owned six-year-old.
"It was really, really spectacular. With his size, scope and pedigree our owners might decide to go chasing with him next year, I don't know. But with that performance, he can go anywhere.
As the Irish domination continued, both British challengers Handstands and Jingko Blue disappointed, with the latter becoming the sixth horse from seven runners from the Nicky Henderson stable to pull-up this week.
A sympathetic Mullins, who looks absolutely nailed on to become leading trainer this week, said of Henderson's current form: "Our team are in flying form, but we are just so sorry for Nicky Henderson that he has had to pull his good horses out. It could be us, so our sympathies go to him."
It was a third success in the contest for jockey Paul Townend and a hat-trick of successes in recent years after he both Envoi Allen and Impaire Et Passe in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
"That was a fair feeling, he could be anything," said the Festivals leading jockey. "I respect a lot of the horses behind him, and he has blown them out the water. It was a bigger performance than I thought he was going to put in to be honest.
He added: "His bark is a lot worse than his bite, in that, I suppose, if you did get in a row with him, there's only going to be one winner. But you can let him just put his head down and play with him away and he's definitely not as strong as he visually looks.
"It was a huge performance. My worry going back up in trip after racing over two miles the last time was that he might want to run like a two-miler, but no. His jumping was savage, and his galloping wasn't bad either!"
