Beauvallon strikes for Mullins & Townend Beauvallon, trained by Willie Mullins for the Beauvallon Syndicate, justified 6/4 favouritism in the Ryans Cleaning (C & G) Maiden Hurdle at Limerick. The Camelot gelding, a half-brother to Jim Bolger's 2,000 Guineas winner Poetic Flare, was unplaced in four starts on the Flat for Francis-Henri Graffard and finished fifth on hurdling debut at Thurles. Here, he tracked front-running market rival Manoir De Mirande and came off the bridle before that one, but picked up well to lead at the last for a four and three-quarter lengths victory. Winning rider Paul Towned said "He came on plenty from his first run and I think he'll be a nice dual-purpose horse. He has strengthening up to do, but has improvement in him jumping-wise as well. "He 'missed' a few hurdles today but when I got stuck into him, he quickened up nicely. I think he will be a fun horse and I'd imagine he'll stay going for the summer." Additional reporting by Tom Weekes
