Mullins hoping Eb can stand up
Willie Mullins believes Ebaziyan could still challenge for major hurdling honours this season.
The seven-year-old created a huge surprise when winning the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at odds of 40-1 at last year’s Cheltenham Festival.
However, Ebaziyan failed to win in five subsequent starts before ending his losing run with victory in a two-and-a-half-mile Punchestown heat on Saturday.
Although the grey made hard work of that win, Mullins argues Ebaziyan’s form before Cheltenham did not make him an obvious candidate for victory.
“If you go back a year and watch him winning in Thurles before he won the Supreme Novices’ and you couldn’t see him wining that either,” he said.
“It was a present of a race for him (yesterday) and I had to stick him in it. It was for winners of two and we had to go there.
“I think better better ground suits him. He likes it better and his class just probably won it for him yesterday.
“I thought he struggled but he just had enough class to win the race.
“His home work is fantastic. What he did there (at Cheltenham) is what he does at home,” he told At The Races.
Ebaziyan is as low as 20-1 with Coral to win the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle.
