KILBEG KING extended our fine record at Punchestown with a decisive success in the valuable Grade B Conway Piling Handicap Hurdle on Thursday meeting.
Its a meeting I like to target and was a brilliant way to bring up our 40th winner of the season which is a record for the yard.
Just over an hour later LILITH made a bold bid to repeat last year’s victory in the mares handicap Chase before finishing third.
Kilbeg King’s owners Martyn Chapman, Eric Jones and Howard Kingston had to be patient after he suffered a tendon strain early last season which put him on the sidelines for a year.
He is a gorgeous horse, so talented too, and the form of his bumper win for us is gilt edged. He has always jumped very well so we had high hopes he would make a decent hurdler.
The Grade 1 Challow Hurdle was the dream for Kilbeg King this season and he was far from disgraced when finishing sixth behind the impressive winner Hermes Allen on attritional ground.
I felt he was better than that and he certainly looked smart on Thursday with the help of a confident ride by Aidan Coleman who had him nicely position tight on the rails just behind the leaders the whole way.
They then nipped through a narrow gap heading to the last flight before scampering clear to beat Let’s Go Champ by four and a half lengths.
It was great to watch and given the way Kilbeg King jumps I’d like to think he will even better when he goes chasing next season.
We’ve got one more Punchestown runner, Sam Brown, in the Pat Taaffe Handicap Chase on Saturday!
Fab win 👏👏👏