The biggest stars in the Willie Mullins stable are doing little more than light exercise ahead of next week’s Cheltenham Festival, but the wealth of talent available to the trainer was underlined on Sunday when Gitane Du Berlais, a Grade One winner in Britain last time out, ran away with the Grade Three Prix Juigné over hurdles at Auteuil.
Gitane Du Berlais beat Irish Saint, a possible runner in the Grade One JLT Novice Chase at the Festival meeting, by eight lengths in the Grade One Scilly Isles Novice Chase at Sandown last month. Sent off favourite at 15-8 for Sunday’s race, she quickly built up a big lead under Jacques Ricou and never looked in any danger of being caught by the chasing pack.
“I was more surprised by what she did in the Scilly Isles than that,” Mullins said. “We thought after Sandown we’d go to France as it was the start of the Auteuil season so we might have an edge on race fitness. When we looked at what we would have to do to win a good prize at Cheltenham, this looked a nice option.
“She won’t go to Cheltenham, she’ll go to Fairyhouse for the Ryanair [formerly Powers] Gold Cup [on 5 April].”
Lady Cecil, whose late husband Sir Henry did not have a runner over jumps in nearly four decades with a trainer’s licence, saw her first starter under National Hunt rules finish second at Huntingdon on Sunday. Perfect Summer, a five-year-old mare who was rated 80 on the Flat in 2014, made a promising debut in the card’s maiden hurdle, but was no match for Lanceur, the 11-8 favourite, who recorded an easy seven-length success.
“I think he had an off-day [when beaten] at Fakenham last time,” Lucy Wadham, Lanceur’s trainer, said. “On his Newbury form [in November when second to Supreme Novice Hurdle contender Jollyallan] he was entitled to win like that today. I’ll have to speak to the owner but I think we’ll have to look at running him in something at Aintree [in April].”
Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin racing operation confirmed on Sunday morning that their popular stayer Cavalryman had been put down after sustaining an injury in a race at Meydan in Dubai on Saturday evening.
The nine-year-old sustained a fracture in his right leg while competing in the Group Three Nad Al Sheba Trophy.
Cavalryman’s 39-race career included 14 starts in Group One events including a victory in the Grand Prix de Paris in 2009 and third place behind Sea The Stars in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe later the same year. He also won three times at Group Two level, including both the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket and the Goodwood Cup last summer.
“He was a real character in the yard and was treasured, not only by me, but by everyone here,” Saeed bin Suroor, Cavalryman’s trainer, said on Sunday. “We are very upset by the tragic news. He had a wonderful career and he will be hugely missed.”
