Champion Jockey Insight: Paul Townend Assesses Thurles Rides and Long Walk Hurdle
Betway’s new partnership with Irish Champion Jockey Paul Townend adds an extra strand of interest to an already strong pre‑Christmas weekend of National Hunt racing, with Ascot, Haydock and Thurles all staging competitive programmes on Saturday.
Townend’s first column as an ambassador focuses on his three rides at Thurles and his thoughts on the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot, giving punters useful insight into how one of jump racing’s leading riders views the key contests.
Weekend Racing Picture
Ascot’s Christmas weekend is headed by the Howden Long Walk Hurdle, the traditional mid‑winter test for the staying hurdlers over just beyond three miles.
The race carries £125,000 in prize money, with more than £70,000 to the winner, ensuring a deep field of established graded performers and improving stayers.
Haydock stages its own important afternoon, with the Tommy Whittle Handicap Chase again acting as the centrepiece of a typically demanding staying card on soft ground.
The Tommy Whittle is worth over £50,000 and often attracts seasoned handicappers whose campaigns revolve around these valuable pre‑Christmas staying chases.
Across the Irish Sea, Thurles offers an informative card with a Listed mares’ novice hurdle and two divisions of a maiden hurdle that should produce future winners.
The going is described as yielding, and the tight, right‑handed layout tends to place a premium on jumping rhythm and track position.
Townend joins Betway
Townend’s new role as a Betway ambassador will see him provide regular columns throughout the National Hunt season, offering his perspective on major meetings and key rides.
As stable jockey to Willie Mullins and a multiple Irish champion, he is closely associated with many of the sport’s most important horses, which gives his views added weight for racing fans and bettors.
In his first piece for Betway, Townend outlines his book of rides at Thurles and casts an eye over the Long Walk Hurdle, balancing realistic assessments of his mounts with a wider look at the staying hurdle division.
The tone is analytical rather than promotional, and there is an emphasis on how horses have progressed from earlier runs and what they might achieve over the rest of the season.
Korinthia in the Listed Mares’ Event
Townend’s day at Thurles begins with Korinthia in the Listed Mares’ Novice Hurdle at 12:47, a race he sees as a good opportunity for a filly who has done little wrong in her early career.
He describes her as very consistent, noting that she made a good start over hurdles at Ballinrobe before finishing third in a Listed contest at Down Royal on her latest outing.
Crucially, Korinthia already has experience at this level and arrives as the highest‑rated runner, a point Townend highlights when saying she “brings a good level of form and sets the standard”.
The expectation is that Thurles, with its fair but turning configuration, will suit her style, and that any rain will not inconvenience her given the track’s ability to absorb it.
Townend’s comments suggest a degree of quiet confidence rather than anything more dramatic.
He recognises that Listed mares’ novices can be competitive, but the combination of race fitness, proven black‑type form and a mark that puts her at the top of the figures makes Korinthia a key player in what could prove an important stepping‑stone to deeper winter targets.
Eliodam and Boedic in the Maidens
Townend then looks to the two divisions of the maiden hurdle, where he partners Eliodam in Division I at 13:57 and Boedic in Division II at 14:32.
Both horses come from the same background race, having contested a sales bumper at Fairyhouse over Easter, a contest Townend notes “throws up winners every year”.
In that bumper, Boedic finished fourth while Eliodam was back in twelfth, more than 30 lengths adrift, but Townend is clear that the bare result does not tell the full story.
He stresses that both were “quite green” on debut and that each has improved for the experience and has been schooling well over hurdles at home.
A key point in his analysis is that, on racecourse form, the more fancied rivals in each division have hurdling experience in the book, whereas Eliodam and Boedic do not.
Even so, he expects that gap to narrow because of their work at home, and he views both maidens as solid but not especially deep contests, saying they will be “far from the strongest maiden hurdle contests run over the next few weeks”.
That assessment implies realistic optimism: he is hopeful they will give good accounts and sees them as horses to follow as the season develops.
Townend’s closing remark that they are “two nice horses to look forward to for the rest of the season” underlines his long‑term view.
Results at Thurles will offer early evidence of where they sit in the pecking order, but the emphasis is on progress and education rather than immediate headlines.
Townend on the Long Walk Hurdle
In his look at the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot, Townend focuses on three runners: Honesty Policy, Strong Leader, and last year’s winner Crambo.
He first points to the current form of Gordon Elliott’s yard and describes Honesty Policy as “good and tough”, recalling a “gutsy” success at Aintree’s Grand National meeting over two and a half miles and suggesting that the step up to three miles now looks ideal.
Strong Leader is seen slightly differently. Townend believes his recent defeat by Impose Toi at Newbury’s late‑November meeting came in a race that “probably wasn’t run fast enough” for him, hinting that a stronger tempo at Ascot could allow him to reverse the form.
In a truly run Grade 1, he would “not be surprised” to see Strong Leader improving past his Newbury conqueror if things fall right.
Crambo, who took this race last year, also comes under scrutiny. Townend acknowledges his previous achievement but cautions that he will “definitely have to find some of his previous best form to get involved”, a reminder of how competitive the staying hurdle scene has become and how difficult it is to repeat at this level when others are improving.
Townend’s analysis of the Long Walk is measured and rooted in recent form, trip suitability, and the likely pace of the race.
It adds another dimension to a weekend that already has plenty to offer, tying together the top‑level action at Ascot and the more low‑key but informative fixtures at Haydock and Thurles in the build‑up to the heart of the National Hunt season.
