Champion Chase hope Majborough makes Hilly Way return

Majborough returns to action for the season as he bids to provide trainer Willie Mullins with a seventh successive win in the BAR 1 Betting Hilly Way Chase at Cork.

The five-year-old is a three-times Grade One winner who landed the Triumph Hurdle over smaller obstacles and then switched deftly to steeplechasing last term to win the Irish Arkle and miss out narrowly on the British edition at Cheltenham.

He finished the season with a 14-length rout in the Barberstown Castle Novice Chase and now has his sights set on the Grade Two Hilly Way, a race his trainer has won 16 times from 24 renewals.

Frank Berry, racing manager to Majborough’s owner JP McManus, said: “Willie and Mark (Walsh) are really happy with him and it looks a cracking race.

“It’s a nice place to start for the season and we’re hoping for a good run.

“You would be hoping he would work up to be Champion Chase class by March.

“It’s a tough year when they step into open company but he’s going the right way and we’ll know a bit more about him after Sunday.”

Mullins then has another arrow to fire in the shape of the veteran Energumene, who is no stranger to success in the Hilly Way having won the race in 2021, 2022 and 2024.

The 11-year-old is back in action in the race he won by 10 lengths last term, and any rain over Cork racecourse would be appreciated by connections as they felt he did not always enjoy good ground during the 2024-25 campaign.

Sean Graham, racing manager to owner Tony Bloom, said: “He had a good summer away at grass and has been back with Willie since August. He’s had a clear passage through so now we’re just hoping for plenty of rain.

“He’s in great form but he is 11, going on 12 now, we’re under no illusions that he’s going to improve.

“We have to try now to make the most of him and enjoy him, we don’t want to waste him in conditions that he doesn’t really want and we think last year he didn’t really like the good ground, he wants it soft or even heavy these days.

“He’s won three Hilly Ways and if he were to win it again it would be a record. He’s won two Champion Chases and time might have caught up with him too much to win a third, but he’s been showing plenty of enthusiasm for his work at home so we’ve no thoughts of retirement yet.”

Completing a small field of five are Gordon Elliott’s Found A Fifty, Joseph O’Brien’s Banbridge and John Ryan’s Ad Caelum.