Monkfish lands Grade 2 Galmoy Hurdle to secure first victory since 2021 Cheltenham Festival

Monkfish was cut to 16-1 for the Stayers’ Hurdle after the giant ten-year-old showed his powerful engine remains largely intact after a convincing success in the Grade 2 John Mulhern Galmoy Hurdle.

Trained by Willie Mullins, Monkfish was having only his third run in just under three years and registering his first success since landing the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival. 

On the deep ground, he took some time to warm up under Paul Townend, and was probably not entirely suited by the very slow gallop. However, when others were floundering late on, he was only just getting into gear and he was not flattered by his five-and-a-half-length success over 12-year-old Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner Summerville Boy. Younger rivals Ashdale Bob and 5-4 market leader Thedevilscoachman were well held in third and fourth.

Townend said: “It’s good to get him back. He settled brilliantly for the slow gallop they were going. It turned into a bit of a dash down the straight but he showed that he retains plenty of his ability. He will come on for it plenty.”

Patrick Mullins, representing his father, said: “He has stood well to training this year. He was supposed to run on New Year’s Eve but he got a little bang which turned out to be nothing. Ruth Dudfield has done tremendous work with him at home and hopefully he will be able to stand up to it better.

“Now that we have that run under his belt, we might be able to mix and match a bit. He will probably go straight to Cheltenham, there isn’t a whole lot for him before then and it’s only seven weeks away. 

“I don’t know what his most likely target is at Cheltenham. He’s in the Gold Cup and I’m pretty sure he’s in the Stayers’ as well. It could be a Willie special!”

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