Bunting bridges long gap betweens wins Willie Mullins’ Bunting (10/11f) bridged a long gap between wins today, as the Tony Bloom-owned six-year-old scored readily on his fences debut in Ballinrobe’s Boyle Sports Home Of The Early Payout Chase. Last successful on his Irish debut run back in December 2023, Bunting had subsequently filled fourth-place in a Grade 1 juvenile hurdle but today was ending a 17-race losing spell. Ridden by Mullins’ nephew Danny Mullins, Bunting made all the running and while he erred at the third-last, found bundles of energy to eventually score by 15 lengths from Runcock, with Addragoole trailing home last of three runners. Jockey Mullins commented “Bunting has always promised so much and luckily Paul (Townend) picked him in the Coral Cup last year, which meant I got onto Jimmy Du Seuil! That's the sort of ability he has, and he'd been running some good races, including on the Flat last year. "The fences seem to have woken him up. He was very good and even when he made the mistake, he was so quickly away from it. "This trip around here is on the sharp side for him, but it's all about finding a rhythm and getting into a flow over the fences, and he was able to do that and put them to the sword. "Having company in novice races should only help him and he can build on this." Quotes from Mark Nunan
