Paul Townend extended his lead in the race to become top jockey after picking up two victories in yet another dominant day for Willie Mullins at Punchestown today.
The Carlow trainer had another five winners on the festival's third day as he took home victories in the Ladbrokes Stayers Chase and Ryanair Novice Hurdle.
And Townend is in the driving seat to become Ireland's champion National Hunt jockey as rival Rachael Blackmore's disappointing week continued.
The Cork jockey had just two rides on the day, but both Energumene and Gauloise came good for the defending champion.
Energumene (2-5 favourite) made short work of his three rivals in the Ryanair Novice Chase, and Townend was back in the winning enclosure soon after as he guided Gauloise to victory in the next race, another win for Mullins.
Townend only returned to action at Punchestown on Tuesday following a foot injury, but he rode a winner on each of the first two days.
“Chacun was unbelievable here at the start of the week and for a novice to go and do that is special as well,” Townend remarked after winning on board Energumene.
“I got a bit tight to the second last and the last but probably the worst thing I done was have a look and see I had it in the bag. I took my foot off the accelerator a little bit but he’s a lot of fences jumped and from day one, he’s been electric over fences and he sorted himself out.
“To be honest, it’s hard to resist giving him a squeeze everywhere because it’s just so much fun on his back. He does it at his ease. You want to go down and send him everywhere but some day he’s going to have to sort himself out and he’s learning to do that now. He’s class. He’s a joy to ride and I’m very lucky to get back up on him here today.”
“It was a great performance to finish up the season," Mullins said after Energumene's victory.
“It was a nice surprise to get him back because I thought when we had to scratch him from Cheltenham, we’d miss Punchestown.
“He just made a very quick recovery. We were hoping to get him to Fairyhouse but that didn’t work, so I said we’d be better off taking our time and coming here and that paid off.”
Meanwhile, Blackmore had six rides but second place aboard Raya Time in the Pigsback.com Handicap Chase was her best effort of the day.
She has Champion Hurdle heroine Honeysuckle and exciting novice Bob Olinger to look forward to among her mounts on Friday.
The victories have helped to extend his grip on the championship, pushing him eight clear of the Tipperary jockey despite Blackmore closing the gap to just four ahead of the festival.
There was also joy earlier for Willie Mullins as Klassical Dream took home the Ladbrokes Stayers Hurdle.
Jockey Patrick Mullins said: “I can’t say I’m surprised. He’s a very high-class horse, it just went wrong for him over two miles.
“I know he hadn’t run for a long time, but he was ready to run at Christmas and he got a small setback and then it was too late to go chasing.
“Eilish Byrne deserves great credit as she rides him out all the time and he’s not easy.
“I wasn’t surprised how well he settled, he had a hood on and we went a good gallop. The false start wasn’t ideal, but he handled it all right.”
