Horses to follow: 'Townend travelled well and merely pushed out to go and win' Fairyhouse succumbed to the weather on Saturday but there were still meetings from Dundalk and Naas on Friday, as well as Punchestown on Sunday, as the Irish action braved the wintery conditions. Willie Mullins is attempting to pick up the pace after an unusually slow first half of the season and the Closutton giant scored a key-race success over title rival Gordon Elliott in the feature race at Punchestown on Sunday with a horse that has an ambitious year ahead. Here are some runners to follow from this weekend's Irish racing action. Sober The Grade 2 Sky Bet Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle at Punchestown was reduced to just three runners on Sunday and it was the Gordon Elliott-trained Road Exile that proved popular with punters, going from 7/4 into 8/11 favourite ahead of Willie Mullins' contender Sober. The latter was last spotted winning the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot in June on his second start for the Closutton yard, having hit the ground running on his hurdles debut when landing a novice event at Killarney in May. He made the move into graded company here and, barring a messy effort over the first, jumped with improved fluency before using his superior speed to burn off his two rivals between the final two flights en route to a five-and-a-half lengths win. The Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham is seemingly the next stop, though the Dublin Racing Festival will also be considered before that. More interestingly, Mullins' assistant trainer David Casey confirmed that the defence of his Queen Alexandra Stakes in June is planned and, with his owners being Australian-based OTI Racing, the Melbourne Cup in November could also be in the pipeline, ensuring Sober is very much a horse worth following in 2026. Future Prospect At Naas on Friday the opening race went to the Mullins & Paul Townend partnership with Future Prospect, an Order Of St George Mare in the silks of Mrs John Magnier. The point-to-point winner had landed a bumper at Fairyhouse in December 2024 before going 0-3 in that sphere in the spring last year. She was back from 254 days off here and made short work of 24 rivals. Always handily placed, Townend travelled well and merely pushed out to go and win the race. The last six winners of this maiden all went on to win or be placed in Graded contests later in their novice seasons. Goldinthesea Of course it isn't all about the jumps at this time of year and on Friday evening the lights were on at Dundalk. One of the more impressive winners on the card was Goldinthesea for Joseph O'Brien in the silks of Sean & Bernardine Mulryan. The No Nay Never colt had run a pleasing race on debut over 7f at the County Louth venue in December, finishing third, and he was well supported to open his account when stepped up in trip to 7f in maiden company. Scott McCullagh's partner moved menacingly well throughout, seemingly the benefit of his first run not being lost on him, and put the race to bed efficiently once they entered the home straight. It provided the trainer with his fourth win in eight years in the race and he looks a decent prospect going forward, likely with a future on the turf once he goes handicapping.
