Patrick Mullins was very taken with Ashroe Diamond's winning performance at Doncaster on Saturday - despite stablemate Lossiemouth grabbing the headlines elsewhere.
Last year's JCB Triumph Hurdle heroine was a sparkling winner of the Unibet Hurdle at Cheltenham and is now as short as 4/5 for the Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle in March.
However, Mullins was aboard Ashroe Diamond at Town Moor and he said on this week's Get Stuck In programme: “She was very good. She jumped great and settled great which I was delighted to see because she has been a bit keen in the past. The only horses that have beaten her over hurdles are Facile Vega, Il Etait Temps, Irish Point, Marine Nationale and Impaire Et Passe. They’re six Grade One-winning geldings.
“I think her form is top class. Obviously she had the advantage of a run over Gala Marceau on Saturday which probably tipped the scales in her favour, she could do no more than she did. I think she must have a huge chance at Cheltenham in March."
So what did he make of Lossiemouth?
“Willie made the conscious decision not to race the now five-year-olds before Christmas this time. They danced every dance last year, they went to Christmas, the DRF, Cheltenham and Punchestown and then Gala Marceau to Auteuil. He wanted to let them strengthen and build-up and didn’t want to over-race them. It didn’t pay off with Gala Marceau first time out but it did with Lossiemouth."
However the assistant trainer wouldn't be keen on testing her mettle in the Unibet Champion Hurdle this time around.
“A juvenile wins the Champion Hurdle roughly once every ten years, usually in a below-par year, I don’t think Constitution Hill or State Man fall into the below-par category and I don’t think Impaire Et Passe does either," he reasoned.
“She beat Love Envoi on Saturday but Not So Sleepy beat that horse in similar enough style at Sandown and she still needs to improve an awful lot to get to the level of the other three.
“Two of the recent mares to win the Champion Hurdle, Annie Power and Honeysuckle, both went to the mares’ first and then the Champion and I think with a five-year-old that’s the clever thing to do.”
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