Mullins gets Gustavas for a closer look

Highclere Thoroughbred Racing and Willie Mullins team up with Gustavas Vassa in today’s Irish Cesarewitch at Navan.

The three-year-old joins Mullins from Andrew Oliver, but not as a potential jumper and more with major Flat races in mind.

Gustavas Vassa has had just three races to date and the bookmakers are taking no chances in making him favourite for the feature handicap. Harry Herbert, racing manager for Highclere, said: ‘He’s an exciting horse that we bought thinking he could potentially be a quality staying horse on the Flat, maybe even a Melbourne Cup horse for next year.

‘We’ll see how he goes, but we certainly bought him as a Flat horse rather than a jumper. Willie is very happy with his work and this looked a good opportunity to get started.’