Love Me Tender made a sparkling debut over hurdles in the opening race on day four of the Listowel Harvest Festival.
A one-time favourite for the Ebor, the German-bred four-year-old is clearly very talented on the level and showed a brilliant attitude for jumping as he romped to a 20-length victory in his maiden hurdle.
It was just his second run for master trainer Willie Mullins, his first being a creditable midfield finish in the Ebor. He did have three starts for German trainer Peter Schiergen, winning his first two before suffering a two-length defeat in a Listed contest at Chantilly.
Off the back of his Listowel success, Love Me Tender has been cut to 20/1 for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at next year's Cheltenham Festival.
Sent off a well-backed 4/9f, Mullins was impressed with his latest star, telling on-course reporters that he was a cut above his rivals, saying: "It was a nice performance, he was very keen. “I feel sorry for the second there because our fellow should have won his hurdle before this but we didn’t get an opportunity to run him over hurdles.
"He looks better than what you should be meeting down here. It was unfortunate that we didn’t get a run into him and we saw what happened then in the Ebor, he ran too free.
“He was a little bit of that today as well but he’ll learn. I think the hurdles will help him to steady up and teach him a bit more about settling and racing properly.
"I’ll see where we go, he has some nice Flat entries and there are novice hurdles too. I hate missing their novice hurdle year.”
The Royal Bond could be a realistic next hurdling target for the four-year-old and has been used as a stepping stone to Cheltenham success in the past. Mullins has won the race on 10 occasions, making him the winning-most trainer in the race's history; Alexander Banquet, Hurricane Fly and Nichols Canyon among his most talented victors.
Unsurprisingly, Mullins is likely to have a strong hand in the opening race of the 2027 Cheltenham Festival yet again and houses current second favourite Even Tho at 16/1. She landed the Grade 3 Mares Bumper at the Punchestown Festival in April and is closely related to 136-rated chaser The Enabler.
Supreme Novices' Hurdle betting odds
(Odds will display when market is available)
Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.
