Kilcruit only third as Journey With Me takes Leopardstown honours

Top-class bumper horse Kilcruit suffered a second successive shock defeat as Journey With Me maintained his unbeaten record in the Pigsback.com Maiden Hurdle at Leopardstown.

Hugely impressive at last season’s Dublin Racing Festival, Kilcruit was narrowly denied by stablemate Sir Gerhard in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham before reversing that form at Punchestown.

The Willie Mullins-trained six-year-old was beaten at odds of 1-14 on his hurdling debut at Cork last month and was the 4-9 favourite to bounce back on day four of Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival.

Ridden by Paul Townend, Kilcruit tracked Henry de Bromhead’s point-to-point and bumper winner Journey With Me for much of the two-and-a-half-mile contest, but it was clear from the home turn he was struggling to bridge the gap.

With Rachael Blackmore in the saddle, the leader galloped all the way to the line to prevail by three and a half lengths from Minella Crooner, who beat the disappointing Kilcruit to the runner-up spot.

Betfair cut Journey With Me to 5-1 from 12-1 for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

De Bromhead said: “I’m delighted with him – he’s a lovely horse. He obviously won his bumper well and his point-to-point and he did it really well there.

“He’s won a maiden hurdle and there’s still a long way to go, but I’m delighted with that.

“He’s bucked the trend of our Christmas anyhow, one of the few to buck it, so that’s great. It must mean he’s a good horse if he can win this week!”