Easy for El Fabiolo in QuinnBet Hurdle El Fabiolo proved far too strong for a quartet of rivals when scoring a facile win in the QuinnBet Hurdle at Leopardstown. Sent off 2/7f in the familiar double green of owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, the Willie Mullins trained nine-year-old had little more than a schooling session. Sitting second behind Maxxum in the early stages, Paul Townend elected to go on before halfway, soon building up a commanding lead. Although Maxxum was pushed along to close before two out, Townend merely had to extend an inch of rein entering the straight before powering clear to win by 21 lengths. With Maxxum having no more to offer, Soir De Garde kept on late to take the second spot. Townend said: “I thought if I could hold him for some bit but when they were going that slow I just let him at it because I didn’t want to get into too much of a fight with him. “He seems to be enjoying life. He took on his hurdles really nicely and he’s won really well. “I think he could be competitive at a good level. It was a huge ask for him the last time, over two miles especially. “I think they can farm plenty of nice races with him.” When asked if he could ever see him going back over fences he added:- “Never say never. On his last run over fences he was running a cracker but he just made another mistake. I think I would have (gone very close). “The ability was always there but the fences were just getting in the way! “I think he’s a happy horse over hurdles at the moment. As I said you never say never but I couldn’t see it myself.” Additional reporting by Gary Carson.
