Blood Destiny gets his season up and running

Blood destiny (5/1) takes the drop down to handicap company in his stride as he takes the Lord Hemphill Memorial Handicap Chase, for trainer Willie Mullins.

Paul Townend tracked the front-runner Coming Up Easy in the two-mile-two contest and went on from that rival up the run in, against the stands rail.

The top weight was pushed out to the line and scored by a convincing three-and-three-quarter lengths from the aforementioned Coming Up Easy.

"Great tactical rides by both Darragh and Paul. They were the only two horses that stayed on the inside the whole way around. It's a big track to be giving away ground on the outside. This fella rated 150 carrying 12 stone in a good handicap; that was a real good performance. That's always in him but he hasn't always given us that. He's disappointed me on occasion, but he was very good there today, reported the festival’s top trainer Willie Mullins.

"I'd imagine we'll follow the same plan as we did last winter. I'd like to see if there's a nice race for him in Listowel. That will probably be the next option. I think there's a 2m4f race there that Easy Game used to win. That could be an objective."

Additional reporting by John O'Riordan