FEW wins this week will have given Willie Mullins more pleasure surely than to land a Grade 1 with a horse bred by his mother Maureen. Kilcruit’s victory in the Grade 1 bumper is the culmination of half a century of involvement in the winner’s pedigree by Mrs Mullins.

First or second on all five of his starts to date, Kilcruit is a son of Stowaway (Slip Anchor), Ronnie O’Neill’s self-made stallion whose influence is being felt, along with his loss, greatly. This season alone he has three outstanding performers in Monkfish, Put The Kettle On and now Kilcruit.