Yet another blow for Mullins with Faugheen withdrawal
IN the ice-cool, evaluating mind of Willie Mullins, uncertainty is an unwelcome foe. The Irish champion trainer has forged his success in the knowledge his horses are as well prepped as any exam-sitting honours student.
And that whatever questions are asked during racing, his string will have the resources within them to respond, and to conquer. As Cheltenham appears on the National Hunt horizon, though, there are clouds of doubt clinging to the Mullins team.
Annie Power won’t be involved because of injury, while Vroum Vroum Mag looked ordinary at Doncaster yesterday where she won in a head-bobber over a distance too sharp for her. On Friday, Min was pulled from the big novice chase at Leopardstown today and yesterday Faugheen joined him in the ‘nonrunner’ corral.
The return of the 2015 Champion Hurdle king was eagerly anticipated for today’s BHP Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown but a muscle issue put paid to that. How serious the problem is, no one can be sure yet but if Faugheen recovers quickly, he will head for Cheltenham without a run in 14 months. If the injury lingers, he won’t be at the party at all for a second year in a row.
The faith of punters is drifting and by yesterday evening, the nine-yearold had drifted out to 7/2 to regain his crown.
Faugheen’s absence from Leopardstown is a serious set-back for the sponsors, race-goers and the latest challenge for the Mullins team. Already, this season he has had to cope with the loss of the virtuoso Vautour, a three-time Cheltenham Festival winner, and the highly regarded Avant Tout.
He then watched 60 of his boxes empty as Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown House operation moved their classy string elsewhere in a rather unseemly spat over training fees.
As Mullins regrouped, rival trainer Gordon Elliott scooped up the early season handicap chases to open up an advantage in the race for the trainers’ title. But the Closutton trainer hit back with 22 winners over Christmas while a four-timer at Gowran on Thursday left him 11 winners and less then €300,000 in prize-money, behind Elliott.
Momentum was with him but Faugheen’s injury flare-up has sucked wind from his sails. Typically, the Irish champion trainer was in stoic mood as he revealed the latest setback.
‘Faugheen was fine after working during the week and we were all set for Sunday, but he wasn’t right behind this morning and that’s why he won’t be running,’ he explained.
‘We’re not sure what the problem is he could have tweaked a muscle behind. Whatever the problem is it isn’t related to the foot injury he
had in the autumn.
‘It seems to be a muscle problem in his hindquarters. We’ll see how he is over the next few days. The Champion Hurdle is still very much the plan but there is no suitable race between now and the Festival and, all being well, he’ll probably have to go straight to Cheltenham.’
In racing there is a saying ‘they never come back’ but it doesn’t always hold true. Some horses do return after injury better than before. Some don’t.
Doughty Denman won the Gold Cup, then didn’t race for 11 months, but returned to win a Hennessy with 11st 12lbs. Niggling injuries caused Hurricane Fly to miss the Cheltenham Festival in 2009 and 2010 but he still won two Champion Hurdles.
On the flip side, Don Cossack won the 2016 Gold Cup but has since been retired with injury while Annie Power’s future is uncertain after the 2016 Champion Hurdle heroine was struck down by injury last Tuesday.
In the absence of Faugheen, Mullins today relies on Nichols Canyon, along with outsider Footpad, in a race he has won six times on the bounce since 2011, five with Hurricane Fly and 12 months ago with Faugheen.
The Fly was a standing order at Leopardstown, regarded it as his personal fiefdom – he was a perfect 10 out of 10 in grade one races there. No wonder they unveiled a bronze statute for him on Friday.
Now 13, the Fly will be on parade today and a part of Mullins might have wistfully considered sending the old boy into battle for one last hurrah. For all that Nichols Canyon is a serial Grade One winner, he is no Faugheen and was put firmly in his place by Petit Mouchoir in the Ryanair Hurdle at Christmas.
The dappled grey, now under the care of Henry De Bromhead after leaving the Mullins yard, should come further into the Cheltenham equation today but he has yet to race Faugheen.
With six weeks to go to the Festival, the Champion Hurdle picture is muddled but should Mullins get Faugheen to fire at Cheltenham, and reclaim his crown just like the Fly did in 2013, it will be comparable to anything he has achieved in his stellar career.