GOLDEN SILVER SHOWS SPARKLE

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Dec 21, 2008 | by RYAN McELLIGOTT

WILLIE MULLINS and Paul Townend continued their superb run of form with the victory of odds-on Golden Silver in the beginners chase at Navan.

Golden Silver responded well to pressure to touch down in front at the last. He stayed on strongly to pull 15 lengths clear.

"When we bought him from France we thought he might stay two and a half or three miles but this two miles seemed to suit him well," said Mullins. "We hope to step him back up in trip later in the season."

Kimberlite King continued the good work for the Colm Murphy- Matthew O'Connor alliance by winning the second of the maiden hurdles.

The 9-4 shot wasn't too clever at the last two flights but he had plenty in reserve on the run-in.

"He'll be a smart horse when he brushes up his jumping," said Murphy. "He can't have the ground soft enough."

Last year's Paddy Power Chase winner Newbay Prop recorded his first success since then in the two-and-a-half-mile handicap hurdle.

The Paul Carberry-ridden gelding beat the staying-on Line Ball by a head.

"There are some good staying chases for him next month like the Thyestes and the Peter Marsh," said trainer Tony Martin.