BetMGM County Handicap Hurdle

ABSURDE (12/1) was still in last position when he made a mistake at the second last in the County Hurdle but Paul Townend judged his run to perfection on the Ebor winner, who sliced his way through 16 rivals, to collar L’Eau Du Sud and deny the Skeltons a fifth winner at the meeting.

Instead it was a return to the norm, Mullins and Townend taking the first two on Gold Cup day and this Heffernan family-owned six-year-old was completing a unique feat by emulating the great Sea Pigeon - winning the Ebor and then winning at the Festival.

Absurde went on from York to finish a highly respectable seventh in the Melbourne Cup and he was always going to have an interesting profile back over hurdles given his flat rating of 110. He caught the eye when fourth to Ballyburn at the Dublin Racing Festival and that effort clearly brought him on nicely for this target.

“What a rider that man is,” said Mullins. “There can’t be one bit of warm blood in his veins - it’s all cold I’d say. To ride it the way he rode it - to me that’s the ride of the week.

“How he got beat in the Melbourne Cup, I don’t know, but we’d like to go back. I’m not sure of the conditions there but he ran so well. He had to win the Ebor to qualify last year, and I don’t know how long that qualification lasts for, so it might be tough.

“It was Paul’s idea to be that far back, but when he won it on Arctic Fire it was a similar story. If you go back and look at County Hurdles for Paul he’s done it before, and they tend to come from the back in this race.”