Punchestown Festival: Echoes In Rain and Lossiemouth shine on final day

Echoes In Rain cruised home to land the Coolmore N.H. Sires Mogul Irish EBF Mares Champion Hurdle for Willie Mullins and Paul Townend at Punchestown.

The seven-year-old was the 13-8 joint-favourite for the Grade One contest after finishing fourth in the Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle when last seen at the Cheltenham Festival.

Harry Fry’s Love Envoi was the other market leader, but was beaten around the final bend and faded to come home last in an unusually poor performance under Danny Mullins.

Echoes In Rain and stablemate She Wears It Well were left to share the lead and it was the former who pulled away easily to score by nine and a half lengths from John McConnell’s Anna Bunina, with She Wears It Well in third.

“She was very impressive,” said Mullins of the winning dual-purpose mare.

“Once again Paul just rode her with complete confidence, he’s transferring his confidence through to his horses and they are on fire with it.

“She’s improving all the time. She’s hard on herself, but she’s just about learning to settle now.

“We’ll probably go back on the Flat with her, but Flat racing does upset her a little bit, it gets her too geed up for this job. We’ll see and have a good chat with the owners. She’s done the job here today and that’s what counts.

“She got very wound up in Cheltenham, but I think she’s maturing and some year she might be good enough to go back there.

“She’ll be aimed at it next year anyway.”

Lossiemouth demonstrated her dominance over her Mullins-trained stablemates to win the Ballymore Champion Four Year Old Hurdle.

The grey claimed two juvenile contests impressively at the start of the campaign but was then defeated when hindered in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown.

Her conqueror was Gala Marceau and the two fillies met again in the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, where Lossiemouth prevailed by two and a quarter lengths and set the record straight.

Under Townend at Punchestown she backed up that success when pulling away to a length-and-a-half victory over Zarak The Brave and Gala Marceau as the 1-2 favourite.

“We bought her in France from Yannick Fouin and he was full of her when he had her. We were lucky enough to get her,” said Mullins.

“You think you are buying nice horses all the time but this filly looks to be a cut above, for a filly to go through the whole season and come out at every festival.

“Christmas, the Dublin Racing Festival and to get hammered there, back to Cheltenham and back here today - that’s incredible for a four-year-old filly.

“She’ll need a long break now after that to recover. She’s been very good to us.

“I’m looking forward to maybe the Mares’ Hurdle next year. Normally those juveniles work into staying hurdlers which would be the Mares’ Hurdle or the Stayers’ Hurdle, but I’m just wondering could she be a Champion Hurdle filly in two years’ time?

“She has huge reserves and she’s sound as a pound. Half the battle of being a good horse is being sound.

“We’ve so many talented horses, but they’re not sound and they miss a year. Look at the likes of Monkfish and Asterion Forlonge this week, if they were sound they could win a lot more but it’s a high level of training and racing and it’s tough.

“In any sport the top players pick up injuries and careers are done because they pick up injuries. Racing is no different.”