Salvator Mundi continued an extremely fruitful Aintree meeting for Willie Mullins with a straightforward success in the TrustATrader Top Novices' Hurdle.
Fifth in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham last month, the Joe and Marie Donnelly-owned bay settled well for Paul Townend in mid-division throughout the nine-runner Grade One.
Cheltenham third Romeo Coolio loomed on the turned for home, but he was not able to keep pace with Salvator Mundi and he had no trouble in shaking him off to win with any amount in hand.
Mullins said: "I'd been disappointed it had taken this lad so long to win a Grade One but we changed tactics today, we decided to let him get at it and I think it worked.
"They went a real good pace, Paul settled him, he jumped well, a little to his right in the straight but Paul felt he was just correcting himself and that’s a good sign, to think about doing that at a good speed.
"He ran in the Triumph for us last year but that was just practice for this year. He thinks he’s faster than he is I think. A bit more racing will settle him down, I hope.
"I’m not sure if we’ll go over fences next year, they might actually make him an easier ride.
"He is a horse I have always thought a lot about and when we bought him he was second to Sir Gino in Auteuil.
"As it turns out I rang Joe and Marie Donnelly about Salvator Mundi and Nicky Henderson was on the other line ringing about Sir Gino. Joe and Marie ended up with the first and second and there’s a bit of competition to see who is best. At the moment Sir Gino is winning but we’re going to catch up, I think."
Paddy Power make the winner a 16-1 chance for next year’s Arkle and 25-1 for the Champion Hurdle.
Gordon Elliott said of Romeo Coolio: "He ran a great race again on ground that is probably as quick as he wants it.
"He ran a great race, the winner was very good and our lad is a horse to go chasing next season. The way he jumps, he’ll be great.
"We’ll get him home and see how he is, but I imagine he won’t do much more this year."
Caldwell Potter put in a superb round of jumping to claim victory in the Huyton Asphalt Franny Blennerhassett Memorial Mildmay Novices' Chase.
A winner at the Cheltenham Festival, Paul Nicholls' high-profile grey was ridden by Harry Cobden as the 11-4 joint-favourite for the Grade One event alongside Ben Pauling’s Handstands, who lost his chance when severely hampered by the fall of Dancing City.
Up front, Caldwell Potter was left to lock horns with Jordans in the final stages, but yet another neat and quick jump at the last saw him pull away to prevail in good style, by a length and a quarter.
Nicholls said: "I enjoyed that. He jumped brilliantly on ground that we were a little bit worried about, but I actually think he wants decent ground the way he moves.
"We’ve had a few headaches with his feet and they’ve been a nightmare for the last 10 days. It’s like someone getting a new pair of shoes and them not fitting properly, you have to bed them in and we’ve got on top of that now hopefully and he’s a super, super horse.
"He’s taken a huge step forward since Windsor (in January) and we soon worked out two miles is not his trip. I can’t tell you what a different horse he is from that day to now. He floats and jumps and jumping won the day for him there today."
Bought out of Gordon Elliott’s yard last year for €740,000, many had Caldwell Potter down as an expensive flop following successive winter defeats.
However, his handicap success at Cheltenham silenced a few doubters and having now seen his charge graduate to Grade One level on Merseyside in the colours of the late John Hales, with former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson one of those among the jubilant ownership group, Nicholls feels there is more to come.
He added: "He’ll have a good summer and he can come back and you can look at races like the Betfair Chase and things like that. He needs to go left-handed, probably.
"Rome wasn’t built in a day, we’re learning about him all the time and it’s fantastic for these guys and John Hales up there, who put his money where his mouth is and got all his mates involved – he’s a cheap horse now!"
Cobden jumped off Caldwell Potter soon after the line, but the seven-year-old was eventually led into the winner’s enclosure.
The jockey told Racing TV: "He jumped brilliantly, he wasn’t in the same form as Cheltenham and I was on fumes for a long way out but I just managed to nurse him over the second-last and he was very brave at the last, winged it, and I think that sealed the deal for us. He’s a very tough horse.
"It was very hot and the thing to do when it’s like that is to get me off and the saddle off and get him in the horse cool down area. He’s been in there for five minutes and is now in the winner’s enclosure so he can get his round of applause."
J J Slevin was pleased with the performance of the runner-up Jordans, saying: "It was a very good run. It was a big call from Joseph (O’Brien) to run him but he’s run well.
"Hopefully he’s a Grade One horse for next season. It’s taken a very good horse to beat him today, who had also won at Cheltenham."
Joe Tizzard said of The Changing Man back in third: "He’s run a lovely race. We’ve had a hell of a season, it’s a simple as that. He doesn’t know how to run a bad race.
"Next year is going to be so much fun. We rolled the dice a bit today and from the back of two out it looked like a long season had taken it’s toll. Every race he’s run in has been a big £100,000 handicap.
"He’s had a good season and we’ll aim for the Coral Gold Cup next year."
Jamie Snowden registered the first Grade One triumph of his training career with Julius Des Pictons taking advantage of a final-flight blunder from Mister Meggit to claim the Oddschecker Sefton Novices' Hurdle in determined fashion at Aintree.
Jonjo and AJ O’Neill’s Mister Meggit was sent off the 7-2 second-favourite and was always travelling with supreme confidence in the hands of Jonjo O’Neill jr.
Nicky Henderson’s Califet En Vol led three from home, but O’Neill Jr was looking at the big screen for dangers as he cruised alongside the 3-1 favourite with the race in his grasp two out.
However, Mister Meggit got the last all wrong to open the door for the closers staying on behind, with Gavin Sheehan having a willing partner in Julius Des Pictons who galloped on strongly at odds of 14-1 to give Snowden one of his finest hours in the training ranks.
Mister Meggit eventually faded into fourth as Gary Hanmer’s 50-1 shot Minella Rescue came from way back through for second and Anthony Honeyball’s Crest Of Fortune third.
Snowden said: "It’s incredible and he is properly a nice horse.
"We’ve been campaigning him over two and two and a half miles but the better ground came along.
"Stamina was an unknown but he is bred for it and he stayed well – but the final 50 yards felt like a long way!
"We’ve been placed in plenty of Grade Ones before today and had Cheltenham Festival winners, but that’s our first Grade One so it’s very special. It’s a great team of guys to do it for as well, and it was great that Gav was on board.
"He’s certainly going to be a chaser. We bought him from France and he didn’t run in the first year, I think the French horses take a long time to come to themselves. We gave him a year off, he didn’t have an injury.
"He’ll certainly jump fences, whether that is not season or not there’s a lot of water to pass under the bridge before we need to decide."
Gentleman De Mee struck late under a fine ride from Mark Walsh in an Irish-dominated Randox Supporting Prostate Cancer UK Topham Handicap Chase.
The Willie Mullins-trained nine-year-old was a Grade One winner in his pomp but was sent off a 14-1 shot as the professional jockeys got their first look at the famous Grand National course.
Walsh and Gentleman De Mee had to survive a blunder at the second fence, with Paul Nicholls' Ginny’s Destiny leading the field along in the early stages.
Ginny’s Destiny was joined after Becher’s Brook by Ian Donoghue’s Lisnamult Lad and although the eye was always drawn to Gentleman De Mee travelling well, it was Lisnamult Lad who looked to have the race at his mercy when taking up the running after the last.
However, a loose horse proved tough to avoid for his pilot Jonathan Burke, who had to check his momentum, allowing Walsh to bridge the gap and conjure up maximum effort from his willing partner to strike by three-quarters of a length.
The first five home were all Irish-trained, with Mullins and successful owner JP McManus having I Am Maximus at the head of the betting for Saturday’s Randox Grand National.
Mullins, who saddled five runners including the pulled up 5-1 favourite Blue Lord, said: "I thought Blue Lord was the one that was going to do the job, but I suppose with the likes of Blue Lord and Gentleman De Mee they were coming back into a handicap from Grade Ones and I was hoping the drop in class was what they were looking for.
"Gentleman De Mee is a very good jumper and we thought at this stage of his career he should easily go up in trip. Looking at the race, we thought it would suit him."
On whether the success was a good omen ahead of the National, he added: "All the horses are running well and we’re looking forward to it.
"I Am Maximus is in good shape. I wish I’d got the last run into him, but it didn’t work out that way."
Burke was left cursing his luck with Lisnamult Lad, saying: "It (interference) possibly cost me the race. It definitely cost me some momentum but when my horse got to the rail he ran straight to the line. We were just beaten by a class horse.
"I had a hell of a spin. It took me a couple of fences to work out what he could and couldn’t do. His take offs and landings were very measured.
"It’s a shame it didn’t come off, but I’m sure he’ll be back here again."
On Grand National day tomorrow, Nicky Henderson's "pretty wacky idea" sees Lulamba step up in trip for the Turners Mersey Novices’ Hurdle, as the Triumph Hurdle runner-up attempts to regain the winning thread.
The four-year-old made the perfect start to life at Seven Barrows when an impressive winner at Ascot in January and having not been disgraced when beaten a neck at the Cheltenham Festival, will now receive plenty of weight from his elders in a race Henderson has won with top-notchers Simonsing and Spirit Son previously.
"We just felt the nature of the race (4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle) on Thursday, I don’t need to tell anybody that Aintree is a completely different track, it’s very much a speedier track than Cheltenham," said Henderson.
"Then you throw in that 10lb allowance, which I have to admit at this time of year is mighty generous, when I looked at it, I felt it just seemed to make sense.
"It was a pretty wacky idea to start with, but it appeared it was actually the sensible thing to do."
Gordon Elliott has won the last three renewals and this year will rely on the hat-trick-seeking Honesty Policy, although the pick of the Irish challenge could well be Henry de Bromhead’s Koktail Divin, a taking winner at Leopardstown last month.
De Bromhead said: "He’s a nice horse and we’ll find out more about him.
"After his disappointing run at Fairyhouse (when third behind Kawaboomga and William Munny) we were leaning towards skipping Cheltenham with him, but he won well last time and we hope he will run well."
