McCoy grabs some of the glory on Kempes

WILLIE MULLINS dominated Day One of the festival but it is hard to keep Tony McCoy out of the headlines right now and the Grand National-winning rider teamed up with the in-form trainer for a Kempes victory in the Growise Champion Novice Chase.

The JP McManus-owned horse had been pulled up at Fairyhouse two weeks previously but bounced right back to winning form on yesterday’s better ground.

Kempes proved three lengths too good for China Rock at the end of the three-mile Grade One with another Mullins runner, The Midnight Club, back in third.

The favourite Zaarito dropped away from the fourth last but wasn’t pulled up and eventually finished second last. Zaarito was “clinically abnormal” afterwards and jockey Davy Condon told the stewards he wasn’t going badly enough to pull up and felt jumping around would help the horse’s confidence, an explanation they accepted.

“Going three miles suits our horse’s jumping and the fact he stays opens up a lot of options,” Mullins said of Kempes afterwards. “The heavy ground killed him at Fairyhouse and Tony said he was far happier there.”

Earlier Blackstairmountain had bounced back to winning form in the Champion Novice Hurdle under a super-confident ride from Paul Townend. The English favourite, General Miller, could finish only fourth, with trainer Nicky Henderson blaming a hard race at Aintree previously, but Blackstairmountain had just as arduous a race at Fairyhouse when runner-up to Luska Lad and recovered just in time.

“He didn’t particularly shine in a gallop during the week but I thought I’d take a chance as there’s no point having them well next week,” Mullins said of his winner who is as low as 25 to 1 for next year’s Champion Hurdle.

“This shows the difference ground can make. A wetter Punchestown might have made a difference to Flat Out who could run at Auteuil. But we might try and win a flat race or two with Blackstair,” he added.

On a day that proved to be something of a beano for bookmakers, Divine Rhapsody delivered a 33 to 1 shocker in the €100,000 Goffs Land Rover Bumper, beating off Double Double by three lengths for a success that paid almost 52-1 on the Tote. “He’s a gorgeous horse,” trainer Philip Rothwell said of his €6,800 purchase.

“My brother Ronan broke him and he said of all the horses he’s broken for me, this is the one.” He added: “He hasn’t really eaten anything for the last two days, bar some hay and grass, which meant he had had enough work and he is going to be a lovely horse for next year.”

Nina Carberry is just two behind Patrick Mullins (44-42) in the race for the amateur riders championship after Zest For Life’s defeat of Wedger Pardy in the banks race, an event that took its toll on some of the jockeys involved. Jamie Codd (chest injuries) and Peter Flood (wrist) were taken to Naas hospital while Tom Addis was knocked out for three minutes after a dramatic fall from Chance Your Arm.

Andrew McNamara was later stood down for six days due to a concussion after being brought down in the handicap hurdle won by Jigalo.