The six-year-old returned to Australia with high hopes after winning the Lonsdale Cup at York and finishing second to star stayer Kyprios in the Irish St Leger.
Willie Mullins is eyeing a possible tilt at the Stayers’ Hurdle with Vauban after coming up short for the second year running in the Melbourne Cup.
However, Vauban again failed to run up to expectations, this time finishing 11th of 23 runners while his stablemate Absurde fared better in taking fifth spot. “The weather was 25 or 26 degrees on the day and we thought that should be OK, but he just doesn’t seem to travel down there,” Mullins told Racing TV at Naas on Sunday.
“We will look at going to Saudi. They’re due to travel back on Wednesday, so between now and Tuesday we’ll have to decide.
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