Roi Des Francs made a good start for Gigginstown House Stud and Willie Mullins when taking the thurles.ie Maiden Hurdle under Bryan Cooper.

This boiled down to the match, that the market said it would, but odds-on favourite Venitien De Mai s front-running effort, in the end, couldn't take the finishing sting out of the former Tony Mullins-trained Roi Des Francs.

Roi Des Francs headed Venitien De Mai from before the last before racing on for a five and a half length verdict.

The principals left Clounts Meadows all of seventeen lengths back in third.

"He may come back here for the Purcell Novice Hurdle and get an entry in Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham, and maybe the Neptune. He's a three mile chaser down the road," said Mullins.

"He's a big horse and he was bought not too long after his last run. I would see him improving into the spring. He's by the same sire (Poliglote) as Don Poli, and he's been a champion sire in France, both on the flat and over jumps." (AM & EM)