SIX of the eight races on Friday’s card were won by trainers with the surname Mullins, and a smashing afternoon for Emmet Mullins was rounded off when Soldier In Milan took out the Overlander Bumper in some style - completing a near 193/1 treble for the Grand National-winning handler.

Paul Byrne’s six-year-old was a wide-margin point-to-point winner on heavy ground at Monksgrange on his only start for Cormac Doyle in March 2024, but hadn’t been seen since.

There were positive whispers about the private purchase on track, however, and a morning price of 7/1 evaporated into 5/2 come post time. John Gleeson was positive on the nicely-bred Soldier Of Fortune gelding and won with four and three-quarter lengths to spare over Willie Mullins’ 2/1 favourite King Rasko Grey.

“Soldier In Milan is an exciting horse,” said the winning trainer.

“I always thought a lot of him but he’s a big unit, so I was terrified of the ground. He’s an exciting horse for next season with a cut in the ground and should have a big future ahead of him. He was a 16-length point-to-point winner and was very impressive on the day.

“It’s great to get that out of the way for this season, but I think there could be big things ahead of him next year.”

Useful Lad

Even in Jack Kennedy’s absence, the jockey ranks in Gordon Elliott’s Cullentra Stables have become increasingly competitive this season so Jordan Gainford will have enjoyed notching a Punchestown Festival winner on Bective Stud’s Casheldale Lad in the Uniquely Novice Hurdle.

The two-mile event had added interest when market support arrived for Nicky Henderson and J.P. McManus’ Khrisma, who had an incorrect weight published in the racecard and raced with 7lb less on her back once the error was rectified by the authorities. Visiting rider James Bowen rode the mare with strong confidence, but a mistake at the second last put the ball rightly into the winner’s court and Gainford did enough to hold on by three-quarters of a length. There was a full 16 lengths back to the third.

The victory came as some compensation for winning connections after The Yellow Clay took a heavy fall while safely held in Grade 1 company an hour earlier.

Elliott said: “Casheldale Lad is just a bit hard on himself. We thought he’d improve a bit on his last run and Jordan gave him a lovely ride. He got the fractions right in front and it worked great. I’d say he likes that ground, we might give him a month off and will probably keep him going.”