Gordon steadies the ship in title race on day two
The race for the National Hunt trainers title edged back in favour of Gordon Elliott after day two of the Punchestown Festival where he recorded a couple of big race victories and added €130,750 to his tally of prizemoney in comparison to €115,375 for defending champion Willie Mullins.
Those figures mean that Gordon Elliott now has a lead of €280,395 over Willie Mullins (these are not official HRI figures and may be subject to change or alteration) with three days of the Festival remaining.
The trainer with the most prizemoney after the last race on Saturday will be presented with the trophy.
The Elliott-trained Fayonagh (11/8 Fav) added to her victory in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Cheltenham when running out a gutsy winner of the Racing Post champion bumper today.
The victory bolstered the trainer's championship hopes and he said:
'She's a really good mare. She's buzzy at home and I don't gallop her much. I expect we'll put her away now, give her a nice holiday and go jumping next season. The plan had been to be in the first three at Cheltenham (when she was left at the start) but it didn't work out. Things went better today.'
CHAMPAGNE
Elliott was also on the mark with Champagne Classic - a horse described as 'the worst horse I have' by the owner after winning at Cheltenham.
Michael O'Leary described Champagne Classic as the worst horse he had in training when winning the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham last month.
The Elliott-trained six-year-old took the Grade 1 Daily Mirror Novice Hurdle.
'He's not too bad a horse,' said Gordon Elliott. 'He stays well and jumps well and I think he enjoys this better ground - his best runs have come on it at Cheltenham and here. His future is definitely over fences.'
Michael O'Leary added: 'That's not bad from the worst horse I have! I'm going to start insulting my horses more as it seems to stimulate them.'
Today's attendance was 19,366, up from 18,181 on the same day last year.