Patrick Mullins has unwavering faith in Salvator Mundi, who didn't impress everyone with his Sunday success in the Sky Bet Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle.
The Willie Mullins-trained five-year-old came into Sunday's Punchestown contest with a lofty reputation in light of a runaway maiden success at Tipperary back in May and while he ultimately got the job done, beating Kel Histoire by three lengths in a one-two for the Closutton team, his early keenness and scruffy jumping did not go unnoticed.
The sponsors reacted by cutting Salvator Mundi to 7/2 favourite (from 5/1) for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham and the trainer's son and assistant still expects the French import to take all the beating in the Festival opener on March 11.
He told Sporting Life: "My faith is definitely undiminished. When he jumped the second-last and Paul (Townend) went down to give him a squeeze I thought it had all gone up in smoke but the way he came back on the bridle and then ran by them like they were standing still, off a slow-run race, it's not easy to do that at Punchestown.
"So it was a huge performance and we're very happy coming out of the race.
"To be honest, after the first half-mile I thought to myself 'well this horse can't win'. He was running too keenly and because Paul was trying to settle him and they were going slow, he couldn't let him jump. Because if he'd let him jump, he'd have made ground in the air, landed running and ran even keener and maybe even ended up in front, with the other horses pushing him on.
"So there's no doubt the ability is there, but his efficiency in racing still needs a bit of tweaking. When he won his maiden in Tipperary, which was quite a controversial race (long way clear from start and won by 62 lengths), you can see how that happened now as if you let him onto the front, he rocks and rolls. He's going to have to learn how to be more professional in his racing in order to maximise his potential."
