Pique Sous right back to his best

Pique Sous showed no ill-effects from his disappointing run at the Cheltenham Festival when picking up valuable compensation in the Grade 2 novice hurdle at Fairyhouse.

As expected 11/8 favourite Tennis Cap quickly went to the front under Ruby Walsh in this two mile contest. Cops And Robbers tracked him in second and took over before two out as Tennis Cap dropped out of contention.

Pique Sous was starting to loom large though and a good jump at the last under Paul Townend saw him collar Cops And Robbers on the run-in and score by two and three parts of a length at odds of 11/4.

Paul Townend explained the turn around in form today from sixth place in the Supreme Novices Hurdle: “The experience of going round Cheltenham stood to him. The drying ground made a big difference to him and he did it nicely. He showed the class he has.”

Trainer Willie Mullins said: “The ground made a huge difference. Tennis Cap ran well enough [finished fourth], but probably had too hard a race at Cheltenham. He probably wants soft ground, but this fella loved the nice underfoot conditions.

“Ruby would have jumped before the race if he could have. Pique Sous will go to Punchestown and we might let him take his chance in the Grade 1 two miler.

“He’s just not able to handle soft ground and we’ll try and find a campaign on good ground. I might try and find something during the summer.

“Maybe he’ll mature and get stronger and he might handle soft ground next season, but I wouldn’t hold out much hope.”

Additional reporting by Gary Carson