Mystical Power fended off the renewed challenge of Firefox to win the TrustATrader Top Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree.

Trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Mark Walsh, Mystical Power has long carried plenty of expectation as a son of Galileo out of Champion Hurdle winner Annie Power.

He came close to emulating his dam as a Festival winner when finishing second in last month’s Supreme and finally graduated to Grade One glory here.

Walsh was happy to settle in the pack through the early stages as Lookaway raced to the fore, but with three to jump, Mystical Power (11-10 favourite) was clearly travelling best of all.

He took it up before jumping the last from Firefox and while that rival battled back gamely on the run to the line, Mystical Power was half a length too good.

Paul Townend will be on board I Am Maximus and Mark Walsh has opted to partner Limerick Lace after owner JP McManus finalised riding plans for his five-strong team in Saturday’s Randox Grand National.

The celebrated owner has enjoyed two famous victories in the world’s greatest steeplechase, memorably providing AP McCoy with an elusive first success aboard Don’t Push It in 2010 before the historic triumph of the Rachael Blackmore-ridden Minella Times three years ago.

McManus is set to be well represented once more at Aintree this weekend, with Irish Grand National hero I Am Maximus and his Willie Mullins-trained stablemate Meetingofthewaters his two shortest-priced runners.

William Hill on Tuesday suggested the latter, third in the Ultima at the Cheltenham Festival last month, could even go off favourite following a “massive gamble”, but with Townend in the saddle on I Am Maximus, the owner’s retained rider in Ireland, Mark Walsh, has interestingly sided with Gavin Cromwell’s Mares’ Chase heroine Limerick Lace.

Confirming riding arrangements, McManus’ racing manager Frank Berry said: “Paul is on I Am Maximus, Mark is on Limerick Lace and Danny (Mullins) is on Meetingofthewaters.

“Mark has never ridden I Am Maximus, so Paul will ride him. Mark had a difficult decision to make as he liked Meetingofthewaters at Cheltenham as well. It was a difficult decision, but he’s gone with the mare anyway, so he’s hoping she’ll get the trip.”

Berry said Keith Donoghue had been booked to ride Cotswold Chase winner Capodanno, while Jody McGarvey will do the steering on Janidil.

He added: “They’re all going there in good form, they’ll need a bit of luck in running on the day in the National as everyone knows, but hopefully they’ll give a good account.”

Hills make last year’s winner Corach Rambler their 9-2 favourite, with I Am Maximus 7-1 and Meetingofthewaters only a point behind at 8-1 after being cut from 10s.

Spokesperson Lee Phelps said: “The money started coming in for Meetingofthewaters last week and it has not stopped. Make no mistake, this is a massive gamble, and we’ve been forced to take more preventative action, cutting Willie Mullins’ runner to 8-1 from 10-1, having been as big as 14-1 less than a week ago.

“Most people would have expected last year’s winner Corach Rambler to go off favourite, but if this gamble continues at its current rate we think there’s a good chance Meetingofthewaters could be favourite come Saturday race-time.”

The well-fancied Kitty’s Light, a 14-1 shot with the same firm, appears almost certain to make the cut after Gordon Elliott revealed top-weight Conflated will instead run in the Melling Chase on Friday.

Conflated was one of 13 Elliott-trained horses still in contention for the event following the confirmation stage on Monday, but owners Gigginstown House Stud later said the prospect of running under 11st 12lb on testing ground over four and a quarter miles was a major concern.

The 10-year-old was also entered for Thursday’s Aintree Bowl over three miles and a furlong, but was not declared on Tuesday morning and is instead set to run over two and a half miles the following day.

“We had the option of the Aintree Bowl and the Grand National, but with the ground going the way it is we are going to run in the Melling Chase on Friday instead,” Elliott said in a stable tour for Attheraces.com.

“I thought he ran great in the Ryanair Chase (at Cheltenham, finished third), he hit the line well and I was very happy with his run.”

Conflated’s anticipated defection means all six horses with an allotted weight of 10st 6lb are now set to get into the final field of 34.

As Glengouly, Galia Des Liteaux and Panda Boy are rated 146, all three were already guaranteed a starting berth, but the same could not be said of Eklat De Rire, Chambard and Kitty’s Light.

As that trio have all been dropped 1lb to an official rating of 145 since the weights were unveiled in February, connections faced an anxious wait and a potential random ballot to decide which two of the three would creep in at the bottom if none of the horses above them were taken out.

Christian Williams, trainer of last year’s Scottish Grand National and bet365 Gold Cup hero Kitty’s Light, admitted to being relieved that barring a late change of mind from Elliott, that will no longer be the case.

He said: “It’s great that he’ll get in now, it’s good for the owners. The whole season has been geared towards the Grand National so it’s great that we’ve got in.

“The owners have been looking at it for the last three weeks and had everything upside down. They’ve been thinking about it for the last three weeks and I just stayed out of it.

“I think Gordon declared Conflated for the Bowl this morning, so one of the owners rang me and said ‘brilliant Chris, we’re in’, then Gordon took him back out! Anyway, it sounds like he’s running on Friday hopefully.”

Of Kitty’s Light, he added: “He’s flying, it’s just a shame with the ground because when we had him in a good place last year the ground was good and it looks like it will be heavy on Saturday.

“He might still have won the Scottish National last year if it was soft, you don’t really know do you? You can’t discount him on the ground until he actually goes out there as when we’ve run him on that sort of ground before we didn’t have him in the best of form and it wouldn’t have been his ideal trip.

“When he’s had his ideal trip it’s been in the spring and that’s when the ground has been good. We’ll see how he runs on heavy ground in the spring – there’s only one way to find out.”

Fact To File maintained his huge reputation with a straightforward success in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase for Willie Mullins.

Talked of as a serious Gold Cup horse of the future, the JP McManus-owned 8-13 favourite was given a patient ride by Mark Walsh through the early stages, before things tightened up, with the field almost inseparable over the third-last fence.

Around the bend horses started to drop away, however, and nothing could go with the market leader – who was second in the Champion Bumper here last year – as he accelerated clear after the last.

Monty’s Star (Henry de Bromhead/Rachael Blackmore) was three and three-quarter lengths back in second, with Giovinco third at 40-1 for Lucinda Russell.

McManus said: “I was nervous and I thought he got a little warm and on his toes beforehand.

“I think Mark did a great job to get him settled and I think he will learn a lot from that race, I’m just relieved.

“It’s all in front of him and when Willie decided to go straight chasing with him I had no objection, it sounded good to me. It has been vindicated.”

Harvard Guy made it a hat-trick of course wins in taking the Listed Navan Handicap Hurdle.

Running off a mark 22lb higher than when successful in November, the Eddie and Patrick Harty-trained gelding was given a patient ride by Mark Walsh in the JP McManus colours, as Kilbree Warrior bowled along well clear in the hands of Darragh O’Keeffe.

The 7-4 favourite still had work to do over the last, but in the end was able to reel in the gallant Kilbree Warrior for victory by three-quarters of a length, giving the mare 15lb in doing so.

“It was hard fought. In fairness to the second horse I thought he had gone mad on the ground, but he nearly got there,” said Eddie Harty.

“We couldn’t have ridden him any differently with the weights, but he did get there and it was a good performance.

“I’d say myself that would rule him out of Leopardstown (Dublin Racing Festival), I don’t think you could turn out after that run on that ground.

“He’s had a cracking season and if they said to me ‘that’ll do him for the year’, you couldn’t be disappointed with the season.

“We’ll have a rethink now about what is next. It was either here or Leopardstown, unless it had been lovely ground here and he’d won on the bridle. I don’t think he’ll recover enough to go three miles.”

He added: “He’s a lovely horse and he has a future over fences, he jumps very well. He’s improved physically and has improved mentally from race to race. He’s becoming a racehorse now.

“You could make a case for going for a graded novice hurdle somewhere. He likes it here.”

Hercule Du Seuil clung on to complete his five-timer in the BetVictor Proud Sponsors Of Irish Racing Novice Chase at Punchestown.

The six-year-old has not looked back since suffering an odds-on reverse on his fencing debut in early May, winning at Ballinrobe, Killarney, Galway and Roscommon in the space of four months.

Carrying the colours of JP McManus, Hercule Du Seuil was the 4-11 favourite to notch a third successive Grade Three success for trainer Willie Mullins and jockey Mark Walsh – and while he did ultimately get the job done, his supporters were made to sweat before collecting their winnings.

For much of two-and-a-quarter-mile contest it looked like a straight duel, with the market leader and Lucid Dreams engaging in a nip-and-tuck tussle before Hercule Du Seuil went clear from the third-last.

However, just when it looked like he was home for all money, Senecia came from the clouds to throw down a late but serious challenge and there was only a neck between the pair at the line.

Mullins said: “Lucid Dreams kept him honest the whole way and Mark had to change to plan B and drop him in behind. He jumped well when Mark needed him and it’s a great performance to win five in a row.

“If the weather stays dry we might get another run into him and we could then give him a mid-season break and come back in the spring.

“I’d rather keep him to the minimum trip if I could but he can go out to two and a half. Mark felt maybe he didn’t want the ground as soft as it was today.”

With last season’s Champion Bumper hero A Dream To Share a significant non-runner, Fascile Mode the most of what looked a gilt-edged opportunity to make a successful start to his jumping career in the BetVictor Predictor Maiden Hurdle.

The Tom Mullins-trained five-year-old looked a potential bumper star himself after winning on his Leopardstown debut last Christmas, but was well beaten at the Dublin Racing Festival and the Cheltenham Festival and disappointed again at Fairyhouse in the spring.

Michael O’Sullivan’s mount was the 1-2 favourite for his return in a race that has been won by three subsequent Cheltenham winners in the past seven years in Labaik (2016), Samcro (2017) and Marine Nationale (2022).

While he made a couple of minor errors in the jumping department, he showed his class by pulling 12 lengths clear of his rivals from the final flight.

“It’s great to get that job done and I was expecting a good run. I was disappointed he made that mistake at the third-last but it was his first day at school,” said Mullins.

“Since he got here today he was gawking everywhere and was on his toes for some reason. He settled well in the race which was great, but he was having a good look at everything and I’d say he would have learned a lot. I’m very happy with him.

“There is a novice in Cheltenham at the November meeting or the Royal Bond (at Fairyhouse) but his jumping will have to sharpen up. He’s brilliant at home and has done a lot of schooling.”