Mullins is lining up for a historic tilt at the British trainers' championship.

Faugheen tasted defeat for the first time as he was upstaged by his stablemate.

Willie Mullins admits Nichols Canyon puts him in mind of stable star Hurricane Fly as he bids to give the trainer a fourth Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle win in the last 10 years at Cheltenham today.

What a remarkable start to the meeting! Unbelievable. You know you’re not going to win them all, or at least you think something is going to go wrong — and it did when Annie Power fell.