Paul Townend and Willie Mullins are the leading jockey and trainer going into day three of the 2022 Cheltenham Festival.
The Cork rider had two winners on Wednesday as Sir Gerhard won the Ballymore before Energumene triumphed in the Champion Chase, with a £150,000 bet being placed on the latter of those prior to the Grade 1 contest.
Speaking after the race, Townend, who was winning the contest for the first time, said: “I was on a very good horse and you can make it look easy then. He’d won on very heavy ground in Ireland so that wasn’t going to worry us.
Read more: Cheltenham Festival 2022 day 3 full race card and tips - list of runners and riders on Thursday
“It didn’t work in Ascot and the tactics kind of went out the window early on (here) as well, he was enjoying himself. I let him jump up there and just kept holding on to him.”
Mullins – also winning the race for the first time – said: “We just thought we got the tactics completely wrong at Ascot so the plan today was to follow Shishkin.
“The problem Paul then had was you could see after two fences Shishkin wasn’t handling the ground so it then became a case of when was Paul going to forget about Shishkin and ride the race. Nico was wise in pulling Shishkin up, you could clearly see he hated the ground.
“I was very disappointed to see Chacun Pour Soi go out of the race when he did. I was gutted for Patrick (Mullins) because he appeared to be loving it. He might have given him a race.
“At every stage, though, Energumene seemed to be cantering and these extreme conditions suit him.
“He probably has more speed than we thought, at Ascot we felt after the race we should have waited rather than make all.
“That was the only plan I could come up with to turn the tables on Shishkin.
“It was a bit of an anti-climax for the neutrals but it was more nerve-wracking for me because you could see he was travelling the whole way.”
He added: “It’s great to finally win it, it’s great for Paul and great for Tony Bloom (owner). When the rain came he began to get very confident.”
Here's the standings ahead of Thursday's action:
Holland Cooper Leading Jockey Award
1ST 2ND 3RD
Paul Townend 2 1 2
Mr Patrick Mullins 2 - 1
Nico de Boinville 2 - -
Charlie Deutsch 1 1 1
Jack Kennedy 1 1 1
Derek Fox 1 1 -
Mark Walsh 1 1 -
Rachael Blackmore 1 - 1
Tom Cannon 1 - -
Shane Fbitzgerald 1 - -
Kielan Woods 1 - -
Mr Jamie Codd - 2 -
Aidan Coleman - 2 -
Davy Russell - 2 -
Darragh O’Keeffe - 1 1
Keith Donoghue - 1 -
Tom Scudamore - 1 -
Harry Cobden - - 2
Bryan Cooper - - 1
Jack Foley - - 1
Danny Mullins - - 1
Mr Derek O’Connor - - 1
Sean O’Keeffe - - 1
Leading Trainer Award
1ST 2nd 3rd
Willie Mullins IRE 4 1 5
Gordon Elliott IRE 2 6 1
Nicky Henderson 2 2 -
Venetia Williams 1 1 1
Lucinda Russell 1 1 -
Henry de Bromhead IRE 1 - 2
Alan King 1 - -
Ben Pauling 1 - -
Padraig Roche IRE 1 - -
Gavin Cromwell IRE - 1 1
Martin Brassil IRE - 1 -
David Pipe - 1 -
Jessica Harrington IRE - - 1
Paul Nicholls - - 1
Paul Nolan - - 1
Colin Tizzard - - 1
ROA Leading Owner Award
1ST 2ND 3RD
Gigginstown House Stud 2 2 -
JP McManus 1 3 -
Cheveley Park Stud 1 - 1
Robert Abrey & Ian Thurtle 1 - -
Kenny Alexander 1 - -
Ronnie Bartlett 1 - -
Tony Bloom 1 - -
Michael Buckley 1 - -
DFA Racing (Pink & Edwards) 1 - -
Hammer & Trowel Syndicate 1 - -
The Megsons 1 - -
Middleham Park Racing 1 - -
The Ramblers 1 - -
Bective Stud - 2 1
Sean & Bernadette Mulryan - 1 2
K & L Haughey, K Byrne - 1 -
Susannah Ricci - 1 -
Prof C Tisdall & B Drew - 1 -
Mick & Molly Syndicate - 1 -
My Racing Manager Friends - 1 -
C Wymer & P Russell - 1 -
P Davies - - 1
Marie Donnelly - - 1
Alan Halsall - - 1
Diarmuid Horgan - - 1
Mrs H Keaveney - - 1
Miss M A Masterson - - 1
Alexander McGregor - - 1
Mary-Ann Middleton `- - 1
Simon Munir & Isaac Souede - - 1
Softco - - 1
The Prestbury Cup
Ireland 8
Great Britain 6
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