The fantastic form of the Willie Mullins stable continued on Saturday as the County Carlow man had an across-the-card 83-1 treble at Fairyhouse and Limerick.< Barker (5-1) was arguably the highlight as the grey returned to his brilliant best in the Holden Plant Rentals Chase at Tramore.
A Grade One winner as a novice, he failed to complete in three starts last term but had no trouble under David Casey.
Patrick Mullins, representing his father, said: "That was great. We just ran him to get his confidence back. We didn't expect him to win like that. He'll step back up in grade now and he has always been a classy horse but last season was a bit of a disaster."
Mullins jnr did the steering on Sir Vincent (3-1) who was also on the mark at Tramore in the Richard Barron Memorial Maiden Hurdle.
At Fairyhouse Mullins unleashed yet another novice of exciting potential when Aughaloor (5-2) cruised to victory in the Bobbyjo Bistro Maiden Hurdle under Paul Townend.
"We think he's a very good horse who could go to the very top. He will be aimed at the three-mile novice at Cheltenham as he stays, jumps and goes on any ground. He has just been a bit unfortunate not to have realised his full potential so far," said Mullins' assistant Harold Kirk.
Stan James introduced him into their betting at 25-1 for the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham.
Townend also won the Ashbourne Handicap Hurdle on Tom Foley's Might Be Magic (7-1) and brought up his hat-trick on Droim Toll in the Porterstown Handicap Chase
Mullins did suffer an unexpected reverse when Enterprise Park fell early in the Murphy Signs Beginners Chase won by Bob Lingo trained by Mullins' brother Tom, who said: "They gave him a bit of a lead at the start but he won well in the end. We'll see what JP (McManus, owner) and Frank (Berry, racing manager) say now before making plans."
