Closutton scores on debut for team Mullins Willie and Patrick Mullins successfully teamed up for the second consecutive afternoon at Downpatrick as the significantly named Closutton got her career off to a winning start in the Racing TV Free Month Trial INH Flat Race. The daughter of Shantou didn’t appear to be travelling that sweetly towards rear for most of the race and gradually made headway inside the final half mile. The champion amateur, who also bred the five-year-old mare, really got to work off the home turn and the 6/4 favourite got up in the closing stages to deny point-to-point winner Walks The Talk by half a length. The pair stretched 11 lengths clear of Passing Diamond in third. Patrick Mullins said, "Very green early on. She's very small, probably the smallest in the yard, and we have been training her very softly. "Her dam (Screaming Witness) was my first ever ride on the racetrack and she's the eighth bumper winner from eight runners - one of them (foals) never ran. We have one more, a Jukebox Jury four-year-old sister, and she's the last one. Hopefully, we can bring up the nine-timer! "It is a great pedigree. They are natural racehorses, and want to win. "I'd like to think there is improvement, she wasn't trained like one of ours normally (is) and you can see that in how I rode her. You'd like to think there is improvement there fitness-wise and sharpness-wise." Willie Mullins was completing a double on the card having earlier scored with Persian Daughter, while the Closutton father and son team were successful here yesterday with Full Confession. Quotes by Michael Graham
