Yorkhill gave Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh their fourth winner of the Cheltenham Festival when comfortably outpointing Yanworth in the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle.
Walsh made a decisive move on Yorkhill (3-1) by steering an inside path and getting a great run turning for home.
Pulling double to that point, the Graham Wylie-owned six-year-old had all of his rivals at full stretch, including Yanworth, who had been sent off the 11-10 favourite to maintain his 100 per cent record over hurdles.
YORKHILL ridden by @Ruby_Walsh storms to victory in The Neptune on the second day of the #CheltenhamFestival. https://t.co/jOmXNINIE3
— Channel 4 Racing (@Channel4Racing) March 16, 2016
Instead, it was Yorkhill who remains unbeaten over hurdles after slamming his main rival by a length and three-quarters.
Its’afreebee, who was always to the fore, stuck on pluckily for third, seven lengths behind the classy first two.
Mullins said: “Ruby gave him a super ride – he needed a bit of luck.
“It opened up, and he shot through. He jumped the last well.
“We seriously thought about going for the Supreme, but the more I looked at it, the more I thought Altior was hard to beat and that this race was the one.
“He can go novice chasing, but we’ve sort of abandoned that to go down the Champion Hurdle route – he looked very sharp going off that bend.
“He’s a real smart hurdler.”
Cheltenham day two: Our tipster gives his selections
