The Annual Membership Maiden Hurdle at Limerick yesterday didn’t half capture the imagination.

LITTLE more than three weeks before the Cheltenham festival, champion trainer Willie Mullins was in tremendous form again at Naas yesterday, following his recent ‘nap hand’ at Punchestown with a four-timer.

Gallant 12-year-old The French Furze is on target to take his chance in the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown on January 29.

Harchibald’s dramatic defeat in last season’s Champion Hurdle faded in the memory as he made amends with a dominant display to take the totesport Bula Hurdle at Cheltenham.