A £570,000 racehorse that was taken out of trainer Gordon Elliott's stables earlier this year has bolted up on his debut for Willie Mulllins.
Classic Getaway equalled the record for a point-to-pointer at a public auction when he sold for the huge sum at a Goffs sale last December.
A winner of a Borris House maiden for Donnchadh Doyle, he was bought for Cheveley Park Stud and sent to Elliott's Cullentra stable.
But in the fallout of the controversial photo of the Meath trainer sitting on a dead horse, Cheveley Park moved all of their horses out of Elliott's yard including Classic Getaway.
The expensive gelding went to Mullins' Closutton stables and made an impressive debut on the track at Tipperary today.
Running in the Junction INH Flat Race, with Patrick Mullins in the saddle, he travelled supremely before running out a 15-length winner at odds of 4/9.
Winning rider Mullins said: “He is a beautiful-looking horse and I think he was a little bit more expensive than a Rolls Royce Phantom! But I’m pretty sure Mrs (Patricia) Thompson (owner of Cheveley Park) will get more fun out of him than a Rolls Royce.
“He’s a big baby and that’s why I was keen to teach him and get him to stride out. He is a big baby at home for a five-year-old who had a point to point run and he’s not a bumper horse.
“I imagine he’ll go jumping later in the season – he wouldn’t have ran, only the ground was so wet and we said we’d get a run into him.
“Willie didn’t rush him and let him settle in. He didn’t have to run this season, but it just happened with the weather.
“I think he’ll continue to improve mentally.”
