Willie Mullins completed a quick Gold Cup Day double when Kargese won the second race of the afternoon, the William Hill County Handicap Hurdle in the hands of Paul Townend.
Backed into 3/1 favouritism, last year’s Triumph Hurdle runner-up, led home an irish-trained 1-2-3-4.
Runner-up was Gordon Elliott’s Ndaawi (25/1) under Jack Kennedy, a length and a half behind the Closutton winner.
Mullins was also responsible for both the third and fourth, with Absurde (5/1) and Danny Mullins one a half length further back, while Ethical Diamond (16/1) and Patrick Mullins completed the Irish clean weep another three-quarters of a length behind in fourth place.
Commenting on another Cheltenham 2025 win, the successful jockey Paul Townend admitted:
“She was keen today alright! That’s her though, she has the heart of a lion. I was in front a lot sooner than I wanted. But it might have actually helped me that when I got there, she parked a little bit and gave herself a breath of air, and that meant she could repel what was coming at me at the back of the last.”