Rising Dust another for in-form Mullins Rising Dust made the best way home from three out in the William Hill Challenge Series Handicap Steeplechase to justify 11/10 favouritism in the hands of Darragh O'Keeffe. O'Keeffe got him in a lovely rhythm racing to the business end and although Sammy Smart (16/1) attempted to make a race of it over the last, Rising Dust still had plenty in the tank as he saw that rival off by a length and a-half. Midnight Moonshine rounded out the placings some 10 lengths further back at 11/1. This was Rising Dust's first victory over fences to go with two handicap hurdles at Listowel and Punchestown in September and October respectively. He also landed a Listowel handicap hurdle in June 2024 for his former trainer Michael Hourigan. Emmet Mullins said: "With his progress over hurdles, you'd be hoping he could do that, but I just wasn't sure if it was his time of year. I told the owners if we got beat today, I wouldn't be overly worried as he could be back in May and be a completely different horse. "It was great to the get the nicer ground today and he jumped from fence to fence. Darragh loved it and said he could have gone around with his eyes closed. It was a nice performance. "Nothing showed up after his previous run (beaten favourite in sixth at Clonmel), but maybe it was a combination of the ground and the handicapper catching up with him over hurdles - may have been the reason. We had to change tack and luckily we had this chase mark in the bank. "The plan since the last day had been to give him a break, but we still haven't done it. He is fit and well, and there is a meeting back here before Christmas for him, so we'll see if there's a suitable race." Mullins has now scored with his last four runners - two in Kempton on Monday and one in Tramore on Tuesday before today's representative. Additional reporting by Tom Weekes
