Willie Mullins said here on Monday that nothing has come to light to explain the dismal performance of Faugheen, the 2015 Champion Hurdle winner, at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting, but the trainer remains optimistic that the 10-year-old will return to the same track for the Irish Champion Hurdle on 3 February, the opening day of the new Dublin Racing Festival.
Faugheen earned the nickname “The Machine” after winning his first 10 starts for Mullins, including two victories at the Cheltenham Festival, and recorded the eighth Grade One success of his career on his return from a 665-day absence at Punchestown in November. He was not going with his usual zest from an early stage of the Ryanair Hurdle on 29 December, however, and dropped away tamely before being pulled up near the second-last.
“There was no physical evidence of any leg problems or anything like that,” Mullins said, “so I thought it could be wind or his lungs or his heart or a muscle problem. But we haven’t seen any evidence of that. He’s had an ECG done, had his wind checked, so something must have choked him on the day or something like that.”
Faugheen had been vying for favouritism for the Champion Hurdle in March before his lifeless performance at Leopardstown but is now a 5-1 chance while Buveur D’Air, last year’s champion, heads the market at 4-6. Hopes of a head-to-head between Faugheen and Buveur D’Air on the opening day of the Festival will be revived if Mullins’s runner can rediscover his best form in the Irish Champion Hurdle.
“He’ll do some fast work this week and, if he passes that test, we’ll do some more,” Mullins said. “I’m aiming him there, anyhow. I’m hoping that, if he works well at home, I won’t have any worries [about going to Leopardstown].”
Mullins would not be drawn on the possibility that Douvan, the 2016 Arkle Trophy winner, will return to the track in the spring, having been ruled out for the season in mid-December.
“He’s back cantering and we’re just going to do that for a few weeks and see how he progresses,” Mullins said “It’s slowly, slowly.”
Ayr Abandoned
Hereford 12.20 Nigh Or Never 12.50 Rock My Style 1.25 Carole’s Vigilante 2.00 Baron Du Plessis (nb) 2.30 Steel Express 3.05 Castafiore 3.40 Ratify 4.10 Blue Flight
Kempton Park 4.35 Olaudah 5.10 Captain Pugwash (nap) 5.40 Lucymai 6.10 Sharp Reminder 6.40 Danzan 7.10 Mrs Burbidge 7.40 Iley Boy 8.10 Ardamir
