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Willie Mullins on his leading Cheltenham Festival hopes


Willie Mullins talks us through his leading hopes for the Cheltenham Festival, headed by a four-strong team for the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup.

THE STAR TURNS

GOLD CUP TEAM

There's Al Boum Photo, Invitation Only, Kemboy and Bellshill and I'll probably run as many as I can. Those four can run there anyway. We'll make a decision nearer the time whether we need to switch one or two back to the Ryanair, but we have Un De Sceaux for the Ryanair and Footpad is in there and in the Champion Chase. It would be nice to win the Gold Cup and we have as good a chance this year as any. You can make cases for them all.

KEMBOY

Kemboy put in a huge performance at Christmas in Leopardstown on very good ground. If it comes up like that on the fourth day of Cheltenham - which it can - he must have a very good chance. I think the further he goes the better he'll be, too. He's one that has sort of jumped out this season. He got a very brave ride at Christmas and it paid off. He's a horse that improving. We haven't really seen it at home but I think maybe the trip and a different way of riding him has seen him improve.

It's a funny year. Lots of form has been turned upside down and it's quite an open Gold Cup I think. He goes there with a good chance. I haven't made any jockey arrangements at all for the Gold Cup. We'll do what we normally do and leave it until the last week, but he and David [Mullins] are a very good combination.

BELLSHILL

Bellshill has lots of stamina and jumps particularly well, I think. That's a huge plus for him. Cheltenham hasn't been Bellshill's luckiest place. Maybe this is the year that he's going to change that. He's handling left-handed tracks well, so that will do for me going over there. I think he is now the horse we thought he would be. I think it's all coming together this season.

We can see him improving all the time. I think there's still improvement in him from Leopardstown the last day. He's a big, heavy type of horse, but he's by King's Theatre and I don't think good ground will be any trouble to him. Bellshill jumps particularly well and we saw Kemboy skip over those fences in Leopardstown. Hopefully he'll be able to do the same in Cheltenham.

AL BOUM PHOTO

I don't think we've seen the best of Al Boum Photo yet. We decided we'd take him to Cheltenham fresh. He shouldn't have any problem with the Gold Cup trip.

INVITATION ONLY

Invitation Only probably has to step up a bit. He'll have to improve I think. Certainly if he was in another yard they'd be happy to run him in a Ryanair or a Gold Cup, so I'll say he will for us. He could yet [make up into a Grade One horse].

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CHAMPION CHASE AND/OR RYANAIR

UN DE SCEAUX

He just hasn't had the ground he wants this season and probably needs as he gets older. He has the same enthusiasm that he's always had. He's in particularly good form this week. He did a bit of work yesterday and it was probably the best bit of work he's done all year. He just seems to be coming right at the right time again. If the ground came up very heavy and some horses didn't turn up in other races then who knows, but I would imagine it will be the Ryanair for him.

FOOTPAD

He schooled very well the other day in Navan - he schooled a lot more like the old Footpad from last year. Hopefully that's a sign that he's starting to find his form. I don't think he'd have any problem stepping up in trip, but we'll see where we are nearer the time. It has been a frustrating season with him. He's had two over-reaches, but we schooled him the other day with no back shoes on and I was very happy with that. I've left the back shoes off since his last run, so that's an option. You don't need them.

Footpad leading Invitation Only (left) at home
Footpad leading Invitation Only (left) at home

MIN

He could go Champion Chase or Ryanair and I'm going to leave that decision until much closer to the time. Obviously Altior is the one to beat in the Champion Chase if he turns up on the day. Things can happen and horses might not turn up. We'll have one if not two to take him on. You can't be afraid of one horse. We'll keep him straight if nothing else! Where Min goes will depend on what everyone else is doing, what the ground is like and what Ruby wants to ride. There'll be a lot of different things we'll take into consideration.

HURDLERS

LAURINA

She's a very, very good mare. This has been the goal all along. We just haven't had the ground for her, which is why she hasn't run much. She's a different type of mare to Annie Power. They're both tall, rangy mares, but they've got different temperaments. Laurina's temperament has changed dramatically since last year. She was a bit on the excitable side - you couldn't walk past her stable without her coming out at you and she gets upset if anyone goes in her box.

With Annie Power you could send a five-year-old child into her box and they'd be safe. With Laurina you'd nearly have a bodyguard, but she has settled down hugely this year. Maybe she's just getting mature.

(After her win in the Quevega Mares' Hurdle at Punchestown)...

Ruby [Walsh] said she needed it badly but when he asked her to move up she moved up nicely. She probably jumped a bit slow for my liking, but when he asked her to go she sharpened up her jumping very quickly. Also the tight inside track that they use at this meeting wouldn't suit her, hopefully we'll get a clear run now until Cheltenham. I imagine she will [run in the Champion Hurdle].

That's where we're aiming for, that's the owners plan, that's our plan, but things can change. Last week she got her flu jab and she missed a week's training. It wasn't ideal, I wanted last week to sharpen her up so she'd be ready for today and next thing we had to take a pull, totally. I'm very happy with her knowing what we've done at home in her work coming into a meeting like this. We'll have to sharpen her up now.

MELON

He looks good and I'm happy with him. We're just trying to figure out why he disappointed the last day. We have our own reasons and we'll try and change things in Cheltenham. I know connections are saying Buveur D'Air will improve hugely [on last year's Champion Hurdle performance], but we're hoping Melon will improve hugely as well.

There hasn't been any evidence of that on the race track, but we're hoping we can change one or two things with him to bring back his old form. If he goes there in his old form, he has a good chance I think.

Melon - on the road back to Cheltenham
Melon - on the road back to Cheltenham

SHARJAH

He is a nice surprise this season and has improved out of all recognition. He probably is what we thought he was coming up to Christmas two years ago when he fell in Leopardstown and he just lost his way after that - maybe because of a lack of confidence or whatever. Now he seems to be back to being a really good horse. He's proved that this year winning the Morgiana and then at Leopardstown, so I'm very pleased.

PENHILL

He's fine. He went away yesterday and is coming along nicely. Hopefully we can get him there. Every morning you're looking at him to make sure that he's alright. He's going to have a few more searching bits of work between now and Cheltenham. To me, he was never going to have a run before Cheltenham this season. I spoke to the connections and decided that's what we'd do.

You'd rather get runs into them, but what's the point in running in Punchestown or Leopardstown and finding out you can't get him to Cheltenham? Last year it wasn't the plan - it's just the way it worked out. This year it seemed the obvious thing to do.

FAUGHEEN

He goes for the Stayers' Hurdle and is in good form. Ruby hadn't stirred on him the last day [when he fell]. What would have happened I don't know, but Ruby was confident he hadn't asked him any questions at that stage. I was just waiting for Ruby to pull the lever and obviously it never happened.

When the fall happened I thought that might be it and he was very sore for a few days afterwards. It would be nice to win at Cheltenham again. Hopefully he just stays sound and has a trouble-free run and gets there. It's a track he likes.

Faugheen limbering up at Closutton
Faugheen limbering up at Closutton

BENIE DES DIEUX

She's in good form and goes for the Mares' Hurdle. She might have run last week in Gowran or this week, but I decided to give her the flu jab, which ruled her out of running. I decided I'd rather give the the jab than run her.

THE RISING STARS

NOVICE CHASERS

CILAOS EMERY

He pulled a muscle schooling in Navan the other day. That's why you didn't see him this morning. We'll have to wait and see how he's going to come out of it. If he doesn't come out of it in the next seven days then I think we might have to draw stumps for Cheltenham. That's a disappointment, but when you school them you take your chance.

BALLYWARD

He goes for the four-mile chase. Patrick [Mullins] will ride unless you can find him a better one!

PRAVALAGUNA

She's in the novice chases. I don't think she's had three runs for the handicap but she could run in the JLT or the Arkle, we'll see. I always thought she'd be a really good mare but she took a heavy fall at Auteuil in France and I'm just glad we've got her back and in the form she's in at the moment. That's the sort of form we thought she might aspire to when we bought her, as she wasn't a cheap purchase. She's finally finding her true form.

REAL STEEL

He could go for one of the handicaps, the Close Brothers, unless he's too highly rated and then he could go for the JLT.

DUC DES GENIEVRES

Duc Des Genievres goes for the Arkle I think. His performance was very good the other day so I'd imagine he will go for the Arkle.

NOVICE HURDLERS

ARAMON & KLASSICAL DREAM

Aramon goes for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle. Klassical Dream could be Suprem or Ballymore. He's a very good jumper with a lot of experience. Ultimately he will want a trip. He's one that's giving me a little bit of a headache. Aramon has been fantastic all year and has surprised me, he keeps winning and he ran a cracker the last day, it was only a bob of the head.

Leading novice hurdler Klassical Dream
Leading novice hurdler Klassical Dream

RELEGATE

Relegate will be the Albert Bartlett. I was very disappointed with her at Leopardstown. Maybe the ground was too good for her. Maybe she needs very soft ground. She's going to have to really up her game. I thought she was beat last year at Cheltenham, I took my binoculars off her just after the water jump and the next thing is she's powering up the hill. Horses for courses, perhaps she'll enjoy going back to the Cheltenham.

CAREFULLY SELECTED

Carefully Selected. No [to making Cheltenham]. I'm disappointed I didn't declare him for today, if I'd known that rain was coming I would've. At this stage I'd say he won't go to Cheltenham as I won't get a run into him. I think my owner's happy enough, he prefers going to Punchestown anyhow. I'd say he'll go over hurdles, but he always said to me if we buy a horse we'll buy it for Punchestown.

It's been hugely frustrating. But I'd rather have that frustration than having them injured. It's disappointing, it's an extraordinary year I've never seen a year like it, it is what it is.

JUVENILES

TIGER TAP TAP

Tiger Tap Tap goes for the Triumph. I wouldn't have thought it was the ground last time but maybe you're right. He certainly didn't operate and a few of my four-year-olds didn't perform on their second run. Maybe I was just too easy on him. He had a very hard race at Christmas. It might've been my fault, I was hoping the run would bring him on but he certainly didn't fire that day. I'm hoping that's not his form. The previous race, I'd be hoping that's his form. I'll be hoping to get that out of him at Cheltenham.

BUMPER HORSES

BLUE SARI

We've a lot of bumper horses that haven't got out so Blue Sari would be the main one, if not the only one. Like Relegate he doesn't show off at home. She never showed off anything. He's very laid back, a child could ride him, he doesn't show off the sort of speed he showed at Gowran. Doing what he did on the racetrack he certainly must go there. He's mentally mature enough, he's like a rocking horse you could take him anywhere. Four-year-olds have only won three bumpers from what I can think of, but maybe very few have contested it. 

BLACKBOW

Blackbow is good, he had a little setback. He's one that I don't know if we'd break his novice now, he could go for another bumper, he could go to Punchestown. If we ever get a winter, we'll see what happens.


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