Apolon De Charnie followed in the footsteps of last year’s winner Poniros to give Willie Mullins another big winner in the Grade 1 JCB Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Poniros was at 100/1 going into 2025, but Apolon De Charnie was at half that price (50/1) this afternoon, as Mullins teamed up with his son, Patrick, in the opening race of the Boodles Gold Cup Day card.
The winner quickly moved into second position before the final flight of hurdles and was soon clearly overtaken by Mullins Jnr to claim a winner by one and a half lengths over Skelton’s Maestro Conti (5/1).
Minella Study (7/1) from the Adam Nichol yard and ridden by Ryan Mania was another short head in third.
Earlier this morning, a £20,000 each way bet was placed on the eventual third-placer.
Reacting to the victory, coach Willie Mullins said:
“Every time I watched him on TV, I saw him clearly. He was doing well all the time, while my others were having difficulties… Proactive was coming with a race, Mon Creuset was coming with a race, I was thinking: ‘We have chances here’, coming in second to last. But Patrick managed to get the lead.”
The position Mullins combines for a 50/1 Triumph victory with Apolon De Charnie appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.
