The first horse from this week that rocked the Cheltenham festival markets was the Willie Mullins trained Sir Gerhard who made his chase debut at Gowran Park.
A superstar so far in his career winning the Grade One Champion Bumper two seasons ago and last year went back to the festival to take the Grade One Ballymore Novices' Hurdle.
A three time Grade One winner during his career, he was sent chasing this season and although later than originally scheduled, he made his debut at Gowran Park on Thursday over two miles.
He made a satisfactory debut, showing he still has a superb engine but did guess a few times at his fences and will need to touch up on his jumping.
Mullins explained after the race he will be stepped up in trip for his next event, nominating the Grade One Brown Advisory Novices' Chase as his most likely event at the Cheltenham festival.
This saw his price of 50/1 before the race go into a general 6/1 with most bookmakers.
Marks out of ten for Sir Gerhard? 🤔
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) January 26, 2023
The dual Cheltenham Festival winner is off the mark over fences at the first time of asking as he cruises to victory on his belated return to action at @GowranPark1 🏇@WillieMullinsNH | @PTownend pic.twitter.com/Ii60kEuXWy