CLASSIC Getaway (147+) made the perfect start to his chasing career as he led home a 1-2-3 for Willie Mullins in the beginners’ chase which opened the Gowran Park card on Saturday.

The Cheveley Park Stud-owned gelding edged past his stablemate and race favourite Minella Cocooner (145+) at the final fence as the pair pulled clear of their field to post by far and away the best data over fences on the day.

The strongest overall race time was confirmed by the fastest final circuit and closing sectional as the son of Getaway surpassed anything he achieved over hurdles.

In finishing his race from the fourth last in 97.8secs, the winner was 2.0secs faster than Dunboyne (130) who turned over a new leaf to be the second-best of the chase winners.

His performance behind Crosshill on good ground at the Punchestown Festival suggests Classic Getaway will also be effective on better ground, although I would not hesitate to support Minella Cocooner to reverse the form on a sounder surface.

Best performance

The final race times over hurdles show hurdling debutant Kalanisi Star (130) to have posted the best performance and, while there was merit in his defeat of Pink in The Park (128), Inothewayurthinkin (130+) appears the more likely candidate for scaling greater heights as a novice hurdler.

Removing the formative stages of each race and concentrating on the events from the last hurdle with a circuit to cover shows Gavin Cromwell’s four-year-old to be 4.9secs or 25 lengths quicker than Oliver McKiernan’s charge.

At his most impressive from the fourth last hurdle, the J.P. McManus-owned gelding completed his race in 96.7secs, compared to the 103.1secs it took Kalanisi Star to cover the same ground and the 107.9secs taken by Marelly (120).

Gavin Cromwell suggested Inothewayurthinkin will step into Grade 1 company on his next assignment while it may be beneficial to include the runner-up and third in the novice hurdle as well as the winner and runner-up in the maiden hurdle in any trackers.