Michael O’Leary gets one back on Willie Mullins in Ryanair Hurdle

Ultimately Willie Mullins wound up the Christmas action with a stunning haul of 22 winners, yet Petit Mouchoir's Ryanair Hurdle success at Leopardstown on Thursday must have left the champion trainer with a festive sense of what-might-have been.

Petit Mouchoir became the fourth ex-Mullins trained star to land a Grade 1 this season for Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown Stud team, taking the sponsor’s prizemoney home in style with a seven length success over his former stable companion, Nichols Canyon, the 2-5 favourite.

The victory took Petit Mouchoir's new trainer Henry De Bromhead to within touching distance of a €1 million in prizemoney for the season while leaving Mullins just short of a different landmark figure.

Had Nichols Canyon justified the odds-on, it would have been a 34th Grade 1 National Hunt prize in 2016 for Mullins, one more than his 2015 haul. Since jump racing’s season straddles calendar years his new target is likely to be to try and eclipse the 34 topflight wins he had in the 2015-16 campaign.

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However the fallout from his split with O’Leary, most notably in Wednesday’s Lexus victory for Outlander, is likely to continue to reverberate through the elite action for some time to come, with Petit Mouchoir’s impact unlikely to be finished either based on Thursday’s evidence.

Two miles on yielding ground was never likely to play to Nichols Canyon’s stamina but the way the 6-1 winner quickened clear from the second last was impressive. Petit Mouchoir is now a general 10-1 shot to relieve Mullins of the Champion Hurdle crown in March.

Freed from the task of having to pick from a squad of Gigginstown runners, Bryan Cooper, who overlooked Outlander the day before, quickly took the initiative in the race and Petit Mouchoir was in control from some way out.

“Thankfully I’ve got one on the board and it’s great to get one for Michael. There haven’t been any hard-luck stories all week. I had to pick from five in the Lexus and you’re not going to get it right all the time,” said O’Leary’s No1 rider.

“I haven’t ridden too many proper two-milers recently but this horse (Petiti Mouchoir) has a lot of gears and can go a proper gallop over two miles,” he added.

It was certainly an upbeat finish to Cooper’s festival week which began inauspiciously when having to pull up the De Bromhead trained Identity Thief in the St Stephen’s Day feature.

De Bromhead enjoyed better fortune with Special Tiara at Kempton a day later but admitted to having his confidence dented by how his other Leopardstown runners had fared during the week.

“It hasn’t been a bad week, and we’ve had a few winners, but not here, so it’s a bit trying: it has been frustrating and watching fellas win all-round you, it does (affect your confidence). You come up here and you get reminded there are plenty good horses in the country,” he said.

Petit Mouchoir proved himself in the elite category with some aplomb, atoning for a dramatic fall in last month’s Fighting Fifth at Newcastle which the grey French-bred quickly shrugged off.

“He looked to be going very well in Newcastle but you never know: Bryan was fuming and was adamant he would have won but this was another step up,” De Bromhead said.

“He is just a galloping horse. He lobbed away and just has a big galloping stride. Funny, he’s slow at home if you worked him over a short distance. He winged his hurdles today so hopefully he’s learned his lesson from Newcastle.

“I’ll speak to Eddie and Michael but I think we have every right to consider the Champion Hurdle. He hasn’t had a hard season thus far so the Irish Champion Hurdle might be a plan,” he added.

De Bromhead reported that Identity Thief is still sore after his St Stephens Day misfortune when pulled up lame. “He ripped a shoe off but I hope it’s nothing serious,” he said.