Reaching a Royal winner in 'The Kingdom' Reaching High justified his short price with a cosy success in the opening John J Galvin Maiden Hurdle at Listowel this afternoon. Paul Townend bounced out in front on the 1/4 shot, who soon opened up a healthy lead in the two-mile-two contest. The Willie Mullins-trained gelding came back to the field briefly turning for home but skipped clear before the last. A slightly untidy jump there didn’t halt his momentum as he went on to post an easy 10-length success. It was a second jumps outing for the Sea The Stars gelding, who had been runner-up at Killarney last month. "Unfortunately the King and Queen aren't present but would love to be here, as one of their stated aims is to visit every county in Ireland,” said Mullins. “They only have a few left and hopefully will come to 'the Kingdom' some day. "The horse got a fright at the last but he jumps well enough. He likes a flat track but it can be a bit sharp here and he is a huge, big, long-striding horse so was inclined to get unbalanced around the bends. Other than that, he did it well. "The ultimate plan is to go for the Turners Novices Hurdle (2m5f) at Cheltenham next March and I think he is more of a good ground-horse, so running in Leopardstown at Christmas would be fantastic. We'll take it baby steps first." (Quotes by Tom Weekes)
