Vautour’s progress out of the novice ranks will have to wait a little longer after the horse was removed from Punchestown’s Champion Chase on Tuesday at the final entry stage. Willie Mullins, his trainer, had considered breaking the habit of a lifetime by running a novice against senior chasers but appears to have thought better of it at the last minute.
“I wasn’t happy with him this morning,” Mullins was reported as saying. “He might run later in the week.” That was a reference to the Ryanair Novice Chase on Thursday at Punchestown, in which the horse is still entered.
That race is also the only option at this week’s Festival for Mullins’s Un De Sceaux. The pair are easily the most exciting young chasers around at the moment. Mullins is not expected to run them against each other.
In the absence of Vautour, the champion Irish jumps trainer still has a strong hand for the Champion Chase, his three runners figuring among the top four in the betting. His Champagne Fever is the 2-1 favourite.
Mullins will field Douvan and Don Poli, Grade One winners at last month’s Cheltenham Festival, in other day one races at Punchestown.
