Love Me Tender retains unbeaten record to win Grade 3 hurdle The Willie Mullins trained Love Me Tender maintained his unbeaten record when putting up an exemplary round of jumping to win the Grade 3 BOYLE Sports Novice Hurdle at Tipperary. In front from the outset, Paul Townend was always travelling strongly on the four-year-old. Having only his second start over flights, the Doctor Dino gelding really impressed with the manner in which he attacked his hurdles. Leaving the back straight with two to jump, only the pushed along Whimsy offered any sort of challenge. However, after negotiating the penultimate flight, Love Me Tender went right away from that mare to win readily by six-and-a-half lengths. Remarkably, it was the tenth time in the last 11 years that Mullins has won the Grade 3 contest. Paul Townend said: “He’s three from three now and loves jumping. He’s looking for the next hurdle all the time and that’s a big plus. “Coming back to two miles on a sharp track like this we were hoping he was going to jump that way and he did. He has the option of going up in trip if he wants. “He probably won’t handle really heavy ground but we don’t really get that anymore.” Additional reporting by Alan Magee.
