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Un De Sceaux win in Sandown’s Tingle Creek sparks Ruby Walsh defiance

• Willie Mullins chaser beats Sire De Grugy in thrilling duel
• ‘I don’t think we’re underdogs by any manner of means,’ says Walsh

Un De Sceaux fights out the Tingle Creek finish with Sire De Grugy
Ruby Walsh and Un De Sceaux, far side, fight out the Tingle Creek finish with Jamie Moore and Sire De Grugy. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

Few races are as reliable a source of drama as the Tingle Creek and a handful of top-class two-milers lifted the spirits once more as Un De Sceaux rallied to deny Sire De Grugy a third victory in the race. That gave the absent trainer Willie Mullins a first Grade One success of the new season in Britain with his first runner and provided a timely boost before a major day’s racing closer to home, at Fairyhouse.

“The more you write us off, the more you piss us off, the harder we fight,” said Ruby Walsh after dismounting from the winner, in reference to the start Mullins has made to this season, which has been something less than smooth. Michael O’Leary took his horses away, Vautour died and now the perennial Irish champion trainer finds himself trailing Gordon Elliott by half a million in prize money, with niggling issues having kept stars such as Annie Power and Faugheen off the track.

Even so, Walsh laughed at a suggestion that the Mullins camp might, for once, be regarded as underdogs. “I don’t think we’re underdogs by any manner of means,” he said.

“We have a huge amount of very, very talented staff. And I guess we all feel the same, that we’re all lucky enough to work for a guy who tries to do the right thing all the time. It’s great when he gets rewarded and you ride a big winner for him.”

As expected, Un De Sceaux did not establish the easy lead that makes him so hard to beat. Instead, Ar Mad set a strong pace on his return from a 10-month absence and was clear until diving at a fence in the back straight, fiddling the water and then clouting the next.

Un De Sceaux took it up but Sire De Grugy loomed alongside and suggested at several points in the last half-mile that he might be about to surge past. It never quite happened. The Irish raider lacked fluency at the last two fences and his chestnut rival edged ahead each time but could not get away and Un De Sceaux settled matters with a determined charge up the hill to score by a length.

“He’s a very gutsy horse, he’s a good jumper and he’s a deserving winner,” Walsh said. “But it takes two horses to make a race and Sire De Grugy ran his heart out.”

Related: Gordon Elliott saddles six-timer but Willie Mullins fires back warning

Bookmakers hardly moved the odds for March’s Champion Chase at Cheltenham in response to this outcome, Un De Sceaux being cut to 10-1 from 12s. The hot favourite at 8-11 remains his stablemate, Douvan, a possible runner here until the final entry stage, when his withdrawal disappointed many. He is reportedly working well ahead of a typically Mullins low-key return to action at Cork next Sunday.

In the space reserved for the runner-up, Gary Moore rued his decision to run Sire De Grugy two weeks ago, even though the horse’s record suggests he copes well with a lot of racing. “I thought he just looked a little bit tired going up the hill,” the West Sussex trainer said. “I feel I might have just taken the edge off him.”

But it is Ar Mad that carries Moore’s greatest hopes for the remainder of this campaign. “I’d love to take them all on again with the horse that finished fourth. He’s just too fresh and well and he’s launched at one going down the back. Then Ruby’s taken Josh [Moore]’s position, he’s gone back through the race but he’s stayed on strong up the hill. He ran a whole race full of massive promise.”

Moore feels it is obvious that Ar Mad should now step up in distance and even regretted taking the horse out of the three-mile King George on Boxing Day. A target remains to be discussed.

Kempton at Christmas is still on the agenda for the classy novice chaser Altior, who scored his second win over fences on this card, despite one or two flamboyant leaps down the back. “These are the things that we have got to iron out,” said his trainer, Nicky Henderson.

Altior remains 2-1 for the Arkle and Henderson hinted that Kempton may be the horse’s only run before that race at the Cheltenham Festival.