Houlihan foils Mullins in the bumper Dungarvan handler Conor Houlihan has made an impressive start to his training career and made it three wins from nine runners since taking out his licence when Kiltybo, a winner at Thurles last month, made all in the concluding mares' bumper at Naas. Backed from 7/1 into 9/2 before the off, Barry Stone's mount stayed on the far side in the home straight and was always holding 10/11 favourite Poetisa which made her challenge under Patrick Mullins on the stands' side. Four lengths was the margin of victory for Anthony Murphy's daughter of Idaho which was the fourth homebred to win on the card. Rising Star Houlihan Secures Third Victory with Kiltybo “We’re very happy with her, she’s taken a step forward from Thurles so that was brilliant,” said Houlihan, whose jockey brother Sean gained a high-profile success on Captain Hugo in last weekend's Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso. “We’ll be looking for a bit of black-type next, hopefully. She seems to be improving and if she keeps improving, hopefully we can nick a bit of it. “I’d say we might go to Aintree with her. The flat track there would suit her and that’s Plan A at the moment. “She seems to be very ground-versatile. She looked like she was going to win a four-year-old point-to-point on yielding and then she won on heavy. “She’s a very athletic, good-moving, filly so I don’t see why she won’t handle a bit of better ground. “I’m very lucky to have her. I’m really looking forward to next season too. She’s a home-bred so I’m hoping we can hold on to her. I’m delighted with her." Additional reporting by Gary Carson
