Terminal (near side) and A Fine Young Man jump the last together© Photo Healy Racing
Terminal completed a short-priced treble on the afternoon for Willie Mullins, following the earlier successes of Blackstairmountain and Midnight Oil when the well-backed 1/2 favourite Terminal took the McCarthy Insurance Group Beginners Chase.
The six-year-old gelding was far from fluent at a number of fences for Paul Townend, recording a double on the Cork card, and odds-on punters were made to sweat.
However the French-bred responded to Townend’s urgings to range alongside the front-running A Fine Young Man (14/1) at the last, and got on top on the run-in to score by three and a half lengths.
The pair had the race between them from a long way out, and there was a yawning gap of 64 lengths back to Turtle Express (40/1) in third.
Mullins said, “I was pleased with his performance at Fairyhouse and he was probably expecting the same fences here as he jumped very big over the first few. But he settled down after a while and would prefer better ground. He’ll go for a winners’ race but nothing too flashy.”
Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes
