Not seen since finishing second in this very contest 12 months ago, Mister Pink got the better of market rival Ballysax Hank in the William Hill Keep Your Raceday Positive Maiden Hurdle.

The winner of a bumper at Ballinrobe in the summer of 2023, the Willie Mullins-trained six-year-old had a lengthy spell on the side lines after his encouraging debut effort over flights.

Sent off the 8/11 favourite this afternoon, the homebred bay raced in second under Danny Mullins and jumped well throughout.

Improving to dispute the lead entering the straight, he had a good tussle with the front-running Ballysax Hank, but gained the upper hand inside the final 100 yards, going on to prevail by a length and a half.

The runner-up, who was supported from 6/4 to 11/10, lost little in defeat under Kieren Buckley and was 27-lengths clear of Ballyharney in third.

"I suppose you would forgive a horse being fresh after that kind of layoff but for a horse that is still a novice his jumping is very good," the winning rider said of the Beech Tree Stud Syndicate-owned victor.

"He is maybe smart enough to look at some novices or nice handicaps while the ground holds up.

"He's a big horse and maybe he will handle softer ground but with form on that ground you'd try and capitalise on it.

"His jumping was good up the side and probably landed me there a bit sooner than I wanted but on good ground I didn't want to be curbing my lad's jumping.

"A good jump at the last put it to bed - a tough performance."

STEWARDS REPORTS

Eoin G. Kelly, rider of Ballyharney, trained by Adrian Murray, reported to the Clerk of the Scales that his mount hung very badly left in the straight.

P. Byrnes, rider of Cresthill trained by Michael Flannery, reported to the Clerk of the Scales that his mount hung badly left in the straight.

P.T. Enright, rider of Spread The Faith trained by Oliver McKiernan, reported to the Clerk of the Scales that his mount was a little keen early on.

Additional reporting by Alan Magee