The Willie Mullins trained Royal Ascot hero Simenon returned to winning ways at Cork today, landing the Family Day Out August 1st Hurdle on his return to hurdling, under jockey Ruby Walsh.

The nine year old was on fire in a memorable five day spell in June 2012 when winning both the Ascot Stakes and Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot and today was returning to hurdles for the first time since winning the 2014 Grimes Hurdle (scheduled for tomorrow) at Tipperary

The son of Marju today put in a spectacular jump (see photo) at the flight in front of the stands with a circuit to race, mid-way through his made-all success, eventually proving a length and three parts to strong for stablemate Mckinley

Mullins was absent but afterwards Walsh stated “he travelled and jumped well but he was (previously) a 145 horse.

“It’s nice to find a race for him but we’d be hoping he did what he did. I’ve no idea where he might go next butI imagine he will mix it between flat and jumps.”

By Tom Weekes