Killultagh Vic was not far short of the best in bumpers last term, and the Willie Mullins-trained gelding got his hurdling career off to a winning start at Clonmel in the INH Stallion Owners EBF Maiden Hurdle.

Successful twice at Naas earlier this year and beaten just five lengths by Silver Concorde at the Cheltenham Festival, the son of Old Vic was sent off here the red-hot 1/4 favourite.

Paul Townend kept things simple by having the five-year-old prominent throughout, and supporters had very few worries in the straight.

Mullins’ charge, whose jumping lacked fluency at times, kept on strongly to beat Virtuoso Rouge by an easy four and a half lengths with Rosygo nearly ten lengths further adrift in third.

Mullins said, "“We thought there would be a lot more pace. Paul said they crawled and he just let him get to the front and he jumped well when he got there.

“He had the experience of running in a point-to-point, and he galloped on up the hill. Looking at the way he won today he should stay further than two and a half miles.”

Townend said, “He was very straight forward. I’d have liked to get a lead as they were going too slow and he had to do his own donkey work. It was a nice starting point.

“He had one run in a point-to-point, and he jumped a bit big but he’ll be fine in time.”

(TW & AM)