Timeform Horses to Follow over jumps in 2023/24: Tullyhill

Tullyhill (Willie Mullins)

A Dream To Share dominated the bumper division last season, becoming the first Irish-trained horse this century to win five such events, and his impressive haul included victories in the championship events at the Cheltenham and Punchestown Festivals.

His best effort on Timeform's figures came at Punchestown where he scored by three and three-quarter lengths, but he was made to work harder than that winning margin might suggest by Tullyhill, who, on just his second start under Rules, emerged with plenty of credit in making such a talented and battle-hardened rival dig deep.

Experience gave A Dream To Share the edge at Punchestown, but Tullyhill – a £220,000 purchase after winning his only start in points – is arguably an even better long-term prospect.

Four days before A Dream To Share struck at the Cheltenham Festival, Tullyhill made a successful start for Willie Mullins in a Gowran Park bumper that has a rich recent roll of honour and was used as the launchpad for Grade 1 winners such as First Lieutenant, Yorkhill and Bob Olinger. Tullyhill was up against a rival from the Gordon Elliott yard who had already shown useful form, but he didn't need to come off the bridle to justify odds-on favouritism, creating a fantastic impression with a three-and-a-quarter-length success.

That Gowran bumper took place over two and a quarter miles on very testing ground, so the Champion Bumper at Punchestown – over two miles and on ground deemed good to soft by Timeform – represented a markedly different test for Tullyhill. However, it was one he coped admirably well with, showing a good cruising speed in a strongly-run race to last on the bridle for longer than A Dream To Share, who was ridden along entering the straight.

A Dream To Share was ultimately too strong, finding plenty to assert inside the final furlong, but Tullyhill deserves plenty of credit for making him work for that success and, in pulling seven and a half lengths clear of the third, he achieved a smart level of form himself. More of a staying type than the winner, he looks set to take high rank in the novice hurdle division this season.

Billy Nash

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