Good ride I think, utilising the horse's undoubted stamina. He didn't look short of a few gears there either.

OW should not be written off imho.

Decent ground and an end to end gallop in the Champion hurdle should see a big improvement. He may even start a big price if he keeps getting turned over in Ireland in the meantime.

Oscar Wells should have always gone chasing straight away this season but even now Harrington seems committed to him staying over hurdles form the rest of this year.

Ruby Walsh and Thousand Stars made all the running to land the Ladbrokes.com Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown.

Willie Mullins' grey was sent straight into the lead by Walsh and the well-backed 5/4 favourite jumped impeccably throughout the two mile contest.

A fine leap at the last sealed the victory, with the Grade One contest his sixth success over hurdles and his second in a row after a French Champion Hurdle win in the summer.

Jessica Harrington's Oscars Well ran on for second place but was unable to match the turn of foot shown by the winner, whilst Charles Byrnes' Pittoni made a bad mistake at the third hurdle and never looked a real threat to the winner.

Mullins said: "He will be well entered up in the Champion Hurdle and the World Hurdle.

"He seems to run up to his mark every time he runs. He has picked up a lot of prize money along the way and is a great servant.

"He had the best form over two miles in this race and had a stone in hand on official figures. The Aintree Hurdle over two and a half miles, which he ran a cracker in last season, is a long-term realistic target.

"He will be left in the Hatton's Grace as late as possible but he will probably go for the two-mile Grade One at Leopardstown at Christmas (December Festival Hurdle)."

Walsh added: "He has been in Hurricane Fly's shadow but he is a good horse in his own right and is very versatile ground-wise."

Jessica Harrington said of Oscars Well: "He'll stay over two miles for the moment. He is only a second-season novice and improved all through last season and I'd have said he will do the same this year.

"He is the type of horse that could run into a place in the Champion Hurdle and he will be better with a quicker pace. The Aintree Hurdle is a long-term target for him."

**** now make the winner 6/1 for the 2012 World Hurdle, whilst both Sky Bet and Victor Chandler go a point bigger at 7/1.

In the Champion Hurdle market, Thousand Stars is 16/1 (from 33/1) and Oscars Well is 33/1 (from 16/1) with ****, whilst Sky Bet go 12/1 and Victor Chandler were even more impressed at 10/1.

VC spokesperson Charlie McCann: "It is possible that the fitness of Hurricane Fly will determine which race Thousand Stars targets at the Festival but he didn't look short of speed in seeing off a disappointing Oscars Well and Pittoni."

Sint,
When OW ran  at Down royal he quickened to the lead then folded fairly tamely there but i just put it down to
him needing the run. Here I think he should have offered more resistance, Thous Islands quickened away from
him like he was Nijinsky.  To me Thous Isl looked him in the eye and OW didn't want to know. I accept he
kept on to keep Pittoni at bay but that horse looked even less keen. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on him but to
me he's the sort of horse that when he wins he wins easily but when push comes to shove against the big boys he ain't too keen. I cann't forgive that performance today.

In defence of OW it's not impossible that he's got a wind problem which would explain why he seems to weaken at
the end of his races. Remember reading in P Nicholls  biogaphy that he believed a lot of horses have breathing problems and that he tests for it a lot in his horses and has them operated on  more than other trainers.