Vitorio Piel too strong for Grey Jude in Leopardstown opener The Emmet Mullins trained Vitorio Piel proved too strong for odds-on favourite Grey Jude in the opening Connolly's RED MILLS Irish EBF Auction Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown. Sent off 9/4, the Damian Tiernan owned gelding tracked the market leader under Donagh Meyler for much of the contest. Pushed along after two out, Vitorio Piel stayed on to challenge Grey Jude on the run to the final flight. Edging ahead just before that obstacle, the Spanish Moon gelding went away on the run-in to score by six-and-a-half lengths. “It was a nice performance, hopefully now he’s just coming to himself,” said Mullins. “I think he should improve again for a bit of nicer ground as the spring goes on. “The final of this series in Punchestown is going to be the big aim for him. We had him qualified already and this race just fitted in nicely. “It was a taking performance and it was nice to see him hit the line the way he did. “The first day we drew a line through it. We bounced out to make all and he didn’t have the experience under his belt to manage with it, and his jumping was terrible on the day. “We’ve ironed that out since. We’ve sat on our hands for as long as we could waiting for nicer ground but it didn’t materialise so we ended up getting him out today and taking a chance.” Additional reporting by Gary Carson.
