Willie Mullins has his eyes fixed on the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle with Salvator Mundi, who will skip the Dublin Racing Festival and go straight to Cheltenham.
The five-year-old Sky Bet Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle winner is one of 10 initial entries for Mullins in the two-mile Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle on day two of the DRF at Leopardstown, but the trainer confirmed he doesn't think the gelding needs any more match practice before March.
He was also quick to stress how the questionable round of jumping at Punchestown earlier in the month was unusual for the horse who currently tops the sponsors' (NRNB) antepost market for the Supreme at 100/30.
Mullins said: "I was very happy with him. I thought jumping the third-last, he had no chance, he’d blown up. But he took a breather and to do what he did, to come back and beat them all, wow!
“After pulling as hard as he did and running his race, I thought I’d be quite forgiving of him, knowing how long it took us to get him ready, thinking he’d blown up and will be much better the next day.
“And then he got his second wind and came out and beat them, so to me that was good enough, it was very good.
“He won’t run, his next run will be Cheltenham.
“He jumps much better at home, he just pulled too hard, his head was into flying and not racing, so I’m not worried about his jumping, we think he jumps very well. There will be a lot stronger pace at Cheltenham and he can let fly then.”
Fellow Sky Bet Supreme entry Kaid d’Authie will, however, run in the aforementioned race at the DRF on Sunday February 2.
He fell on his Irish debut at Navan before making amends in the Savills Maiden Hurdle at Leopardstown over Christmas and hopes are high the JP McManus-owned French recruit can continue to rise through the grades.
Mullins said of the five-year-old, who was also this week put in the Turners Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham over two miles and five furlongs: “He will go for the two-mile version (at Leopardstown), that’s what is in my head at the moment, unless something changes.
“From the first day he came to the stable, some horses just hit you, like the first day I saw Fact To File, the first day I saw Majborough – and Kaid d’Authie, they are just fine beasts that you’d want to buy and ride."
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