Faugheen returned to his majestic best with an impressive all-the-way win in the Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle at Punchestown.
The former Champion Hurdle hero, trained by the red-hot Willie Mullins, relished the big step up in trip by blowing away the opposition in incredible fashion.
Faugheen was allowed an easy lead straight from the start and soon had the field well stretched out. David Mullins was able to dictate his own pace and never looked like running out of steam.
The 10-year-old, owned by Rich Ricci, has had his fair share of problems over the last couple of years, but he looked the force of old as he found another gear when pressed by his stablemate Penhill, who lifted the Stayers' Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Faugheen (11-2) put more daylight between himself and the rest up the straight, as he led home a Mullins one-two-three, with Penhill second and Shaneshill third.
Willie Mullins on Faugheen: "What a horse. He's fooled me all year." https://t.co/oCsGySBW7f #PunchestownFestival pic.twitter.com/3KXu6s9Qs7
— RTÉ Racing (@RTEracing) April 26, 2018
Trainer Willie Mullins praised an "extraordinary horse" which has "fooled him all year."
"What a horse. Extraordinary. Myself and Ruby were standing at the gallops the other morning when he came up. I don't know how slow he came up but the two of us looked at one another and we just turned away from the gallop and said, 'well, we'll run him anyhow'.
"And then he puts in that performance. He's fooled me all year."
"David said he loved it, absolutely loved it. He probably got a lot of things his own way there today and it may not happen again in the future, but he has a fair engine.
"That victory was something else. It just shows the horse has the heart and I don't know where he got that from. Maybe we'll stay three miles or maybe we'll go chasing with him - I don't know.
"It's going to be fun deciding what we are going to do."
