Champion jumps trainer examining condition of Auteuil ground before formulating team for next weekend’s lucrative Paris card
Willie Mullins: 'I’d have to send key people over there to look after it and I don’t want to do that.' Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images
But in what might be regarded as a good early season result for rivals such as Paul Nicholls and Dan Skelton, the Irish man has poured cold water on any such scenario. No international runner has won the “Grand Steep” since Mandarin in 1962 and no Irish horse has scored in more than a century. Mullins is keen to take on the challenge and also try to win a sixth French Champion Hurdle the day before — if ground conditions at Auteuil are suitable.
Scottish National winner MacDermott and Minella Cocooner, winner of the Bet365 Gold Cup, could be targeted at the Grand Steep. “We were very unhappy last year coming out of it so we’re going to have a good look at it before deciding if we send anything. I’d love to send horses, so we are thinking about putting a team together, but I want to get more update on the ground.
In other news, Aidan O’Brien has confirmed the Derby is still the plan for City Of Troy despite his dramatic blowout in Saturday’s Newmarket 2000 Guineas. The previously unbeaten two-year-old champion beat only a couple home behind Notable Speech. O’Brien believes the colt was too fresh.
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