Trainer Willie Mullins may have had to withdraw popular mare Annie Power (Ire) (Shirocco {Ger}) from Friday's G1 Punchestown Champion Hurdle, but Rich Ricci's Vroum Vroum Mag (Fr) (Voix Du Nord {Fr}) proved a more than capable stand-in, taking the festival's Friday feature by 1 1/4-lengths under Ruby Walsh.
“She has such a lovely temperament,” said Mullins. “I hadn't realized how much speed she had until I worked her before Cheltenham. We were gobsmacked that day. We thought we might have supplemented the wrong one for [the Champion Hurdle] at Cheltenham after that. We could go any route with her next year. She'd be quick enough to run in the Champion Hurdle or she could go over fences. She's so relaxed that she will stay as well. We've just climbed, climbed and climbed up the ladder with her.
Mullins added, “We'd intended to run her over three miles yesterday, but when Annie Power wasn't quite right we let her take her chance. We had her entered in everything and it was just the way things fell that she ran here.”
The other Grade 1 on the card, the Tattersalls Ireland Champion Novice Hurdle, was one by the Gavin Cromwell-trained Jer's Girl (Ire) (Jeremy) under Barry Geraghty for owner JP McManus.
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