Sir Gerhard, the 2021 Cheltenham Champion Bumper winner registered his first Grade 1 victory over hurdles when winning with the Tattersalls Ireland Grade 1 Novice Hurdle in the hands of Paul Townend.
The son of Jeremy despite making some mistakes ultimately showed his class by defeating fellow former Irish pointer Three Stripe Life by six lengths.
The Cheveley Park Stud owned gelding only won his maiden hurdle on St Stephens Day at Leopardstown when defeating Highland Charge by eight lengths.
The seven-year-old started his career with Ellmarie Holden when winning his point-to-point maiden at Boulta and was subsequently sold for £400,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham December sale.
Willie Mullins remarked afterwards; ‘When I saw him going past the stands, I thought he was all over the place, he was hanging out then Paul hit him a slap to get him to concentrate and then he took off with him around the bend at the reservoir and then he missed the next two hurdles. It wasn’t until half-ways down the back that he got back to his normal self.’
‘He jumped the two hurdles left in the race very efficiently and galloped like a racehorse all the way to the line. So, the second half of the race was good, but the first half of the race was bad for me.’
‘I think he is a very versatile horse he could go either two miles or two and a half miles, so I’m not committing to anything, we can see what’s happening over the next few weeks, what’s left in either race, what might look the easier race.’
Sir Gerhard was just too good in the @tatts_ireland Novice Hurdle despite a couple of questionable jumps @PTownend and Willie Mullins have had a fantastic weekend at the #DublinRacingFestival pic.twitter.com/3eOE3CzjaW
— RTÉ Racing (@RTEracing) February 6, 2022
