Easy for Max in Festival finale

With the withdrawal of main danger The King (change in going), the concluding Tote Qualified Riders’ Race was left at the mercy of Max Dynamite and the 1/7 favourite took full advantage in the hands of Patrick Mullins. He cruised to the front outside the furlong marker and wasn’t hard pressed to defeat Lustrous Light (12/1) by three and three quarter lengths. Willie Mullins’ nine-year-old, placed in two renewals of the Melbourne Cup, was winning for the first time since landing a similar event at the August meeting here in 2017.

Winning rider Patrick Mullins said afterwards “That was very straight forward and it was great for him to get his head back in front as he hasn’t won in about two years.

“He’s hard to place at this stage of his career. Jimmy Kelly led him up and has looked after him for many years and loves him. We’ll be trying to pot hunt with him and hopefully he qualifies to run in more amateur rider races.”

Additional reporting by Alan Magee