Review clonmel 4th Feb

Arkwrisht benefitted from an enterprising Ruby Walsh ride to continue Willie Mullins' domination of the Surehaul Mercedes-Benz Novice Hurdle at Clonmel.

Having initially anchored his mount towards the rear, Walsh made a fast-forward move to take up the running four out.

Arkwrisht (12-1) was far from foot-perfect but made it from A to B in one piece and showed excellent stamina to beat Westend Star by two and a half lengths, giving Mullins his fifth win in the Grade Three in the last six years.

The rest of the day belonged to Bryan Cooper, who initiated a treble on Mullins' Fire In Soul in the Surehaul Race Day Maiden Hurdle.

The five-year-old cost 200,000 euros back in 2014 but hadn't tasted competitive action prior to this and, for a Mullins inmate, was allowed to go off at relatively generous odds of 9-2.

However, he travelled like a high-quality prospect and after taking the lead off Kashmiri Sunset shortly after jumping two out, quickened smartly to score by seven lengths from Thumb Stone Blues .

Everything Billy's Hope had shown prior to the Kilsheelan Mares Maiden Hurdle entitled her to go off the 4-9 favourite, but she couldn't quite reel in Cooper on the Gordon Elliott-trained Water Sprite (7-2), going down by a length and a half.

Cooper's three-timer was completed when Elliott's 1-2 favourite Bright New Dawn outclassed two rivals in the Micro Dog ID Chase.

Ending a drought that stretched back almost two years, the nine-year-old cruised up to take the lead off Rubi Light two out and stretched a length and three-quarters clear without breaking too much of a sweat.

Cerca Trova capitalised on the fall of Fade In two out and a mistake from Annie Alainn at the same obstacle to land the Minorstown Handicap Hurdle as the 4-1 favourite, while Phillip Enright was unlucky on Fade In but gained some compensation when taking the Derrygrath Novice Handicap Chase on Vicangelome (9-4).