Kopek Des Bordes did all that was asked of him to land the Michael O’Sullivan Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Sporting a hood for the first time, Willie Mullins’ gelding was fighting to retain his unbeaten record and started as the 4-6 favourite under Paul Townend for the opening race of the 2025 Festival.
He neatly delivered, tracking long-time leader Workahead and then kicking clear up the hill to hold off a challenge from William Munny, despite a jumping error at the last hurdle.
The length and three-quarters runner-up ran a huge race in defeat, and so nearly carried the colours famously sported by the late Michael O’Sullivan when the Barry Connell-trained Marine Nationale won the corresponding event in 2023.
Kopek Des Bordes is owned by Charlie McCarthy along with his four sons through Monabeg Investments Ltd and it was a special win for him after undergoing surgery for cancer just 11 days ago.
McCarthy said: “I had cancer of my right kidney and I had my kidney removed. I had the top people look after me, I’m disease free and I’m going to have one hell of a party.
“I don’t want to cry but I can tell you one thing, I’m on cloud nine. Is there a bigger cloud to be on?
“I just can’t get over it, to be here with my sons and win the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle after everything I’ve been through. This is a dream come true and the dream is not finished yet.
“That’s National Hunt racing, the small man can have a say in it and I’m no small man but I am the small man here. National Hunt racing is what I love.”
McCarthy dedicated the victory to O’Sullivan, who died last month aged 24 due to injuries sustained in a fall at Thurles.
He added: “It’s unreal. It’s a wonderful day for me because the race is named after Michael O’Sullivan, he lived about 20 kilometres from me and I’ll donate this to the O’Sullivan family, because he was a wonderful jockey.
“I met his brother earlier and I said ‘I would love to win it for the O’Sullivan family’. We’ll enjoy it, we’re from County Cork, the O’Sullivans and myself, and it’s a wonderful occasion.”
Mullins said: “Coming to the last Paul just said he was looking up at the stands, looking at the last and looking everywhere. He said he just lost concentration and missed it, but he picked up and galloped all the way to the Hunters Lodge.
“I think going a faster pace helps his jumping. He is able to go faster, we didn’t know that before Leopardstown, but we saw it then and again today.
“It’s nice to get the first one on the board, a huge relief. We have a good team today, we were hoping we would get one and hope for another one as well. To have it is a great relief.”
Mullins said: “Coming to the last Paul just said he was looking up at the stands, looking at the last and looking everywhere. He said he just lost concentration and missed it, but he picked up and galloped all the way to the Hunters Lodge.
“I think going a faster pace helps his jumping. He is able to go faster, we didn’t know that before Leopardstown, but we saw it then and again today.
“It’s nice to get the first one on the board, a huge relief. We have a good team today, we were hoping we would get one and hope for another one as well. To have it is a great relief.”
On future plans for the winner, he added: “Should we stay over hurdles? I don’t know. I think what we’ll do once Aintree and Punchestown are over is have a look and school him over fences and a lot will depend on what Paul thinks.
“He’d be a hugely exciting horse over fences, too, it’s always easier to keep Champion Hurdle horses sound, but we’re always looking for Gold Cup horses, or is he a Champion Chaser?”
Townend was quick to pay tribute to O’Sullivan: “Michael was a big part of our team and lived locally and he was a Cork man as well, so he’s in everyone’s thoughts every day still. I guess we can count ourselves lucky to have known him for the short time that we did and he was an incredible young man.”
He said of the winner: “I think he’s a very good horse. He covers so much ground and I would say you never know how quick you are going on him throughout a race, he has a huge engine and it was a big performance.”
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