The final Grade 1 of the Irish jumps season went the way of Lossiemouth, who led home a Willie Mullins-trained 1-2-3 in the Ballymore Champion Four Year Old Hurdle as the Punchestown Festival drew to a close on Saturday.

It was a ninth Grade 1 winner of the week for the champion trainer and 17th in total, with Paul Townend on board all of the top-flight successes and bringing his tally to 11 for the Festival.

Mullins will be aiming big with Lossiemouth next year but only after an extended break, the supremely gifted juvenile having danced every dance since making his Irish debut at Grade 3 level in Fairyhouse at the beginning of December.

The runner-up on that occasion, Zarak The Brave ran a phenomenal race today on his first outing since, having been given plenty of time to recover from colic since.

It was another illustration of the maestro’s brilliance but he was keen to emphasise the contribution of the Closutton team, while opining that Lossiemouth had the potential to add to her roll of honour as well as his own, probably stepping up in trip in time.

“I’m just lucky we have such a great team. My wife Jackie, David Casey, my son Patrick, Ruby Walsh most mornings during the week, Ben Delmer who you see saddling up the horses all the week. I could just keep naming people but they all do the job. I’m lucky enough I can have a few glasses of whatever here at the races and let them do the whole thing, and I love the way that they do it.

“When it comes to tactics and everything, the input we have from all the riders we have, Ruby’s input into the form of the other horses, it all goes into the melting pot rather than one person trying to do the whole lot. That’s the way we work the thing and it works very well.

“We bought her in France from Yannick Fouin and he was very full of her when he had her and we were lucky enough to get her. You think you’re buying nice horses all the time but this filly looks a cut above. For a filly to go through the whole season, come out at every festival – Christmas, get hammered around at Dublin Racing Festival, back to Cheltenham, back here today – that’s incredible for a four-year-old filly. She’ll need a long break after that to recover.

“She’s been very good to us and I’m looking forward to maybe the Mares’ Hurdle next year. Normally those juveniles work into staying hurdlers so it could be the Mares’ Hurdle or the Stayers’ Hurdle but, I just wonder, could she be a Champion Hurdle filly in two years’ time? We’ll see. She has huge reserves and she’s sound as a pound. Half the battle of being a good horse is being sound.”

“She’s just a very good mare,” concurred Townend, who also hailed the input of the Closutton collective.

“It’s surreal to be honest,” he said of the success he has enjoyed as number one jockey. “Everyone inside in the weigh room would like to be on their backs and fortunately I’m in the position to be riding them.

“Jackie and Willie are obviously on the top of the tree but from a riders’ point of view, there’s a team of riders in there now, we’re all best pals and we help each other out as much as we can. We all want to win but as much as it hurts to see someone else we’re happy for them at the same time once it’s coming back to Closutton.”

John McConnell has continued to build after a best ever calendar year in both codes and the man who delivered at every major festival did so for the second time at Punchestown this week, as Seddon made all to secure the €60,000 first prize in the Grade B Fitzwilliam Sports Handicap Hurdle.

It was a lovely double for Cheltenham handicap chase victor Seddon, Galaxy Horse Racing Syndicate-owned son of Stowaway showing himself to be just as good over the smaller obstacles, again benefiting from a fantastic ride by Ben Harvey.

Seamus Neville’s progressive Brideswell Lad landed a big pot, with JJ Slevin recording his fourth success of the week in the colours of the trainer Seamus Neville’s wife in the Grade B Palmerstown House Pat Taaffe Handicap Chase.

In an attritional affair, Slevin delivered his charge to take it up just after the last, reeling in Ballykeel to score by three-quarters of a length.

The final official race of the week went to the Crawford brothers, trainer Stuart and jockey Steven, the latter having his first winner in eight years since returning from a lengthy spell out of the saddle after retiring in 2016. The younger sibling had a partner with a very good attitude in Chasing Unknown, who was resolute in seeing off allcomers despite taking it up before the straight.