IT can be hard to know just what to expect from beaten Cheltenham Festival runners turning out again the same spring, but Gordon Elliott overcame that challenge without issue in pulling off a Grade 2 double at Fairyhouse with Maxxum and Found A Fifty.

The rapid-fire brace was kicked off with a win for the most admirable Maxxum in the Rathbarry & Glenview Studs Hurdle, adding the Fairyhouse Easter Festival as his latest marquee meeting to succeed at (previously a winner at Leopardstown Christmas, Dublin Racing and Punchestown Festivals).

Danny Gilligan appeared to get the fractions just right on the front end aboard this season’s Boyne Hurdle winner, who gave weight to all rivals as a result of a 5lb penalty for that Navan victory, and the 14/1 shot showed a terrific attitude to repel the challenge of 15/8 market leader Gala Marceau by three quarters of a length.

The Patrick Rabbitt-owned homebred was pulled up on his previous start in the Coral Cup at Cheltenham.

“Danny is top class and gave the horse a beautiful ride,” said Elliott.

“He missed the third last, but other than that it was poetry in motion. He’s a lovely, quiet rider and he suits this horse very well. In fairness, it just didn’t happen for him in the Coral Cup when he was slow away at the start - we just put a line through that run. “He was good back here today.

“Where we go with him, I don’t know. He could be a horse to go to France if there’s a suitable race; he’s nearly better in a smaller field than in a big handicap. We’ll have a look and see.”

Fifty on form

Sam Ewing ensured a good spread of winners for the Elliott stable jockeys when getting the maximum from Found A Fifty in the Jack McInerney Memorial Fairyhouse Chase, leaving a 25-length defeat in the Champion Chase well behind for owners Bective Stud.

With 7/4 favourite Heart Wood failing to fire on his first start since finishing second in the Ryanair Chase, and Blood Destiny unable to land a telling blow from off the pace, this €100,000 contest was blown wide apart and the highest-rated runner in the field fought off Saint Sam to score by three quarters of a length.

“It was a good performance and I’d say these Grade 2 and Grade 3 races are probably what suit him better than running in Grade 1s,” said Elliott.

“That trip, just shy of two and a half miles, probably suited him today too. He didn’t do much when he got there, even though he won well.”

On the form of his string after a blacktype double, Elliott added: “I wouldn’t say the horses weren’t in form around Cheltenham and coming into Aintree - I’d say we were just having too many seconds and thirds. That has been the story of my life this season!

“We have had a great season again, we’ve had over 150 winners trained. That’s the game we are in. You’ve got to keep upping your game and keep trying to win, not sitting back on my laurels. I know I’m having more seconds and thirds than anyone, you needn’t worry!”

WHAT might Willie Mullins’ juveniles do next? Having already executed a phenomenal piece of training this spring by winning the Triumph Hurdle with a horse who had never jumped a hurdle in public, he entered further unprecedented territory when landing a Grade 2 with Blue Lemons - a son of star sprinting stallion Blue Point.

The ex-Richard Hannon-trained gelding wouldn’t have leaped off the page as a four-year-old hurdler in the making when down the field on his last flat start in the Britannia Stakes, but Mullins had him in fine shape to collect in the Grade 2 O’Driscoll’s Irish Whiskey Juvenile Hurdle under Paul Townend.

Sullivan Group Limited and Merriebelle Irish Farm Limited’s 2/1 winning favourite was bouncing back from being pulled up in the Triumph Hurdle last time, pulling seven lengths clear of It’s Bilbo here.

Assistant trainer David Casey said: “It was obviously a big step down from the Triumph. Paul said they went quick and it suited the way he rode him. He’s entered at Punchestown and he’ll probably run. Not too many Blue Point’s jump hurdles!

“We’ll see where he can end up and he always has the option of going back on the flat as well during the summer.”

Cool Kingdom

Despite obliging by just a length and a half, one of the smoothest winners of the entire Easter weekend came in the two-mile Fairyhouse Foods Novice Handicap Hurdle when Last Kingdom sliced through the field with ease under Mark Walsh to break his duck over hurdles. An unexposed four-year-old, who joined Willie Mullins and J.P. McManus after a French bumper win on debut, the easy-to-back 10/1 shot left behind his maiden hurdle showings to bring his form to a new level on handicap debut.

“Mark felt he has grown up a little bit since he rode him the last day and the race went okay for him,” said Casey.

“He might make into a Lartigue Hurdle horse down the line, or something along those lines. He’s only four. There’s no real long-term plan with him.”

Smooth for Sortudo

A Fairyhouse treble for the dual champion trainer was completed in the Leinster Reinforcements & Brazil Piling Bumper - a race won in the last decade by Redemption Day, Firefox, Samcro, Blow By Blow, Anibale Fly - when Sortudo shot 12 lengths clear of the field under a relaxed Patrick Mullins.

Having run with credit when seventh in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham, beaten seven lengths by stablemate Bambino Fever, the consistent five-year-old made use of his experience to score at odds of 5/2 in the colours of Michael Feeley.

“He’s improving all the time,” said Willie Mullins, who spent some of the day following his runners at Plumpton.

“We didn’t think when he won at Tramore in November that he would be here in Easter and he just keeps improving, which is a great sign in a horse.”

HARRY Kelly believes he could have reason to return to this Easter Monday fixture again next year for the biggest prize of all, with hopes high that Glen Kiln could improve into a 2026 Irish Grand National contender after routing his rivals in the Fairyhouse Steel Handicap Hurdle under Cian Quirke.

Six and a half lengths was the winning margin, but there was even more authority about this well-backed 13/2 success that the bare result suggests. Having been pulled up here in February when found to have mucus in the trachea following an endoscopic examination post race, he roared back to life for owner Michael Bowe.

Kelly said: “Thankfully, Michael always promised me if he couldn’t train him, he would send him back to me. He did a fantastic job with him at home, himself and Brian Hayes.

“Michael just decided to claim off him today, just in case, but we didn’t need it. I’m delighted, he’s a smashing horse. I said to Michael quietly in the stable beforehand ‘hopefully we will be here for the Grand National this time next year’. To have a decent horse on a big day is fantastic.”

Battle royale

One of the most dramatic finishes of the weekend came in the Envirogreen Building Services Handicap Chase when Charlie O’Dwyer somehow managed to maintain his partnership with Battle It Out (8/1) despite a final-fence mistake, and clawed back the lead close home to claim Folly Master.

A neck separated the pair at the line, with the runner-up trading as short as 1/7 in-running and the winner touching 47/1 before being cruelly denied.

Speaking after the victory for owner J.P. McManus, winning trainer Conor O’Dwyer said: “By God, I haven’t got a fright like that in a long time! He gave him a lovely ride, we didn’t tie him to instructions.

“This horse had lost his form and I’m not sure why. We knew from the day he won at Naas he had huge ability. Things fell for him nicely today; soft ground, travelled well and jumped great bar the last.”