Leading trainer Gordon Elliott saddled four winners on the opening day of the Ladbrokes Festival of Racing at Down Royal on Friday.
The two-day meeting has proven fruitful for the Co Meath handler in recent years and he unleashed a couple of his stable stars at the big races on day one.
The odds-on Pied Piper (1/8), who was third in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham last March, landed the feature race of the day, the Grade Two WKD Hurdle by three-and-a-quarter lengths from David Garrick (18/1).
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Pied Piper remains unchanged as a 16/1 shot for the Champions Hurdle in March.
Elliott claimed the first two races on the card with the highly-rated American Mike making a winning debut after obstacles under Jack Kennedy in the opener before Davy Russell steered the 3/1 shot Jungle Prose to victory in the second race.
American Mike, second to Facile Vega in last season’s Champion Bumper, has been cut to 9/2 for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival.
Henry De Bromhead’s Magical Zoe was a surprise 18/1 winner of the Mares Novice Hurdle while Elliott brought up the four-timer when Mighty Potter (2/5) prevailed in the Beginner’s Chase.
There was also a double on the day for local trainer Stuart Crawford who saddled Now Where Or When (4/1) to victory in the 2m Handicap Chase before Carnfunnock (9/4) edged out the Elliott-trained hot-pot Better Days Ahead (1/3) in the last.
The action continues at Down Royal tomorrow when five go to post for the Grade One Ladbrokes Champion Chase at 2.32 with the first race due off at 12.53.
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