See also » Faugheen floored by Nichols Canyon
That worked out completely different from the way they worked on Tuesday. Faugheen left Nichols for dead - maybe he left his race behind, I don't know. Nichols won four Grade 1's last year and he's no back number by any means. He looks like a Champion Hurdle horse now, rather than the stayers. Faugheen was a little disappointing. Ruby said he hung but horses hang when they get tired. Maybe he just met a good horse. They went a good gallop and Nichols did it the hard way, out in front, and jumped fantastic. Maybe he has improved more. Until he tells me something wasn't right I'm not making any excuses for Faugheen. We'll see how they come out of the race and they'll be entered in all those races that Champion Hurdle horses should be in. They'll probably have to take on each other but if we can keep them apart we will. Nichols Canyon was under the radar last year. He was a second string but did win four Grade 1's. We used the wrong tactics with him at Cheltenham and that took the gloss off him a bit. It was out fault. He put in a huge performance today. The other horse (Wicklow Brave) ran very well. We rode him to come home but Patrick said we should have made more use of him. I'll talk to the owner and see if we keep him in training. We were going to put him away but ran him in this race as he was so well. W P Mullins, trainer

R. Walsh, rider of Faugheen, trained by W.P. Mullins, reported to the Stewards' Secretaries that his mount hung throughout.

A hurdle race for four yrs old and upwards
Weights - 4-y-o 11st 7lb; 5-y-o and up 11st 10lb; Mares allowed 7lb