Lift-off for O'Leary in Ryanair as Irish narrowly miss clean sweep

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary won his own race and Willie Mullins' Penhill took the feature Stayers' Hurdle as Irish trainers narrowly missed out on a historic clean sweep at the Cheltenham Festival on Thursday. After claiming the first six races of St Patrick's Thursday, the Irish were on the brink of winning all seven for the first time, but were denied by 8-1 shot Missed Approach in the closing Kim Muir Handicap Chase. O'Leary, the public face of budget airline Ryanair, is a massive supporter of National Hunt racing through his Gigginstown Stud. And after two winners on Wednesday, O'Leary was beaming from ear to ear as he led in his Balko des Flos (8-1), his first-ever winner of the Grade One race he sponsors, the Ryanair Chase. "Finally we've got one, it's wonderful winning my own money back!" he told ITV. "I'll happily pay excess baggage on Ryanair to bring the three trophies home!" the Ryanair boss added in a light-hearted dig at his airline's charging policy. The Ryanair had been billed as a duel between Cue Card and odds-on favourite Un De Sceaux, but the much-loved Cue Card was never travelling well and was pulled up while last year's winner Un De Sceaux had to settle for the runners-up spot. Un De Sceaux's trainer Mullins took the Stayers' with Penhill, running for the first time in almost a year. "He must have some engine, he's fairly fragile," said his master trainer after greeting his sixth winner of the meeting. The 12-1 shot -- running in the colours of Tony Bloom, owner of Premier League club Brighton -- fended off Supasundae in a stirring fight to the line of the three-mile Grade One. Supasundae is trained by Mullins' compatriot, Jessica Harrington, who has high hopes of Our Duke landing Friday's Gold Cup. The Irish continued their run as 5-1 favourite The Storyteller won the Grade Three Brown Advisory Plate, before odds-on favourite Laurina powered to an 18-length victory in the Mares' Novices' Hurdle for Mullins. Laurina was the 15th winner from Ireland out of a possible 20 and gave Mullins a record 61st Festival winner. Gordon Elliott was responsible for six of them after a quick-fire double in the first two races on Thursday's card with Shattered Love and Delta Work, before The Storyteller completed a treble. But the Warren Geatrex-trained Missed Approach prevented the clean sweep in the final race of the day, leading from the front before holding off Irish challengers Mall Dini and Squouateur on the run-in up the hill.