Form profile

A 177-rated chaser, he has won six of his last seven starts over fences including two highly-impressive wins in the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. He produced arguably his best performance yet when winning the Punchestown Gold Cup on what was his most recent start in April 2022.

Trainer says

He had a very unusual injury around this time last year. He came back from the gallop displaying signs of colic, but we couldn’t find any other evidence of colic. It transpired that he had a bleed on his spleen, which is very unusual. I had never come across it other than after a horse had a fall or other trauma. He’s a huge horse. He must be 17-2hh, probably the biggest horse we have in the place, and that can bring its own problems. He’s in great shape this year and I’m very happy with him. We’ll probably look to start him off in the Clonmel Oil Chase. The aim would be to get him back to the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. I know he won the Punchestown Gold Cup when we last saw him, but I think the Gold Cup trip at Cheltenham might be too much for him. The Ryanair suits him really well and that’s where I’d like to keep him.

Form profile

A 152-rated chaser, he won two of his six starts in novice chase company last season and was placed in three Grade 1 contests.

Trainer says

I liked the way he moved on the gallop this morning. I didn’t think I’d have him ready until Christmas, but he has improved hugely in the last three weeks. We stepped him up in trip later last season and I think he’s probably one for mid-range trips this season.

Form profile

A 140-rated hurdler, she won three of her five starts over hurdles including the Grade 1 Honeysuckle Mares Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse in April.

Trainer says

We were thinking about going novice chasing, but after a chat with her connections this week we have changed our mind and are going to stay hurdling with her. We’ll be working backwards from the Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

Form profile

A 141-rated hurdler, he won twice in juvenile hurdles last season and finished second in Grade 2 company at the Fairyhouse Easter Festival.

Trainer says

He’s going to go novice chasing. Last season he was doing some of the best work of any of our juveniles mid-season, but he just didn’t follow it through on the track. I think fences will bring out the ability we were seeing here last season.

Form profile

A 144-rated hurdler, she has won two of her six starts over hurdles including a Grade 1 mares’ novice hurdle at Fairyhouse in April 2022.

Trainer says

I’m going to start her off over fences this season. She likes going left-handed. She’s very good when things go her way. She looks like a chasing mare, and she jumps well at home.

Form profile

A 170-rated chaser, he won all four of his starts in novice chases last season including three Grade 1 races.

Trainer says

He will slot in for Energumene, who unfortunately is out for the season. I think we’ll start him off in the Hilly Way Chase at Cork and plan a route from there until Cheltenham.

Form profile

A 155-rated hurdler, he won three of his five starts in novice hurdles including two Grade 1 contests.

Trainer says

Facile Vega is going novice chasing. He probably didn’t do everything I thought he would do last season. Some things just didn’t go right for him during the season. He has come back from his break in great order and looked in particularly good shape on the gallop this morning I thought. We’ll get him started over fences next month and the way he gallops and jumps I think he’s probably one for shorter trips, an Arkle Trophy type of horse. There’s plenty of stamina in his pedigree if he needed to go up in trip, but at the moment I’m thinking shorter trips with him.

Form profile

A winning point-to-pointer, he won a bumper at Leopardstown prior to finishing second in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival and the Punchestown Champion Bumper.

Trainer says

We’re going to go straight over fences with him. We had a choice with him last season whether to go novice hurdling or stay in bumpers. We elected to stay in bumpers, but we said that if we did that, we would go straight over fences with him this season as he is a beautiful horse that looks a real chaser. I think he’ll be right up with the best of the staying novice chasers.

Form profile

A 153-rated hurdler, he has won four of his six starts over hurdles for Willie Mullins including a Grade 1 novice hurdle at the Punchestown Festival.

Trainer says

He’s going to go novice chasing. If it doesn’t go right for him, he could always go back over hurdles and aim for the Stayers’ Hurdle, but we’ll set out to make him a staying novice chaser. He looks to be one of our best this season and is a Brown Advisory type.

Form profile

A 156-rated chaser, he won the Neville Hotels Novice Chase at Leopardstown and the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival prior to finishing third in the Grand National at Aintree.

Trainer says

He looks an obvious horse to target at the Grand National again. I’m not sure which route we’ll plot to get him there, but Aintree will be his main target.

Form profile

A 179-rated chaser, he has won six of his eight starts over fences including five Grade 1 contests, most notably the Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival.

Trainer says

It was disappointing to be beaten at Punchestown after he had such an exemplary season, but it was the end of a long season, and the two big horses took each other on to an extent and Fastorslow beat them both. In fairness, Fastorslow is a very good horse that could be a real contender this season. He started in the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase last year and that’s where we’d like to start him this year. It is a week earlier this year, which is a better spot for it. I imagine I’ll try to keep him to the same route this season that we did last season.

Form profile

A 144-rated hurdler, he won two of his four starts in novice hurdles last season.

Trainer says

He’s going novice chasing and looks a staying type.

Form profile

A 150-rated chaser, he has won five of his six starts over fences this season including three Grade 3 contests.

Trainer says

He’s had a great time of it already this season. We haven’t discussed our next step with him yet, but after all this rain has arrived, we might give him a little break and aim for Leopardstown at Christmas and the Dublin Racing Festival.

Form profile

A 160-rated hurdler, he won all four of his starts in novice hurdles last season including the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

Trainer says

We are going to stay hurdling with him. His owners are keen to have a shot at the Champion Hurdle and I think he will have a fair crack at it. He was impressive in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle. The only reason he ran in it is that we had Facile Vega for the Supreme. He needs to improve a fair bit to beat Constitution Hill, but people have to take him on.

Form profile

A 160-rated hurdler, he won the Champion Stayers Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival for the third consecutive time in April.

Trainer says

He’s going to go novice chasing this season. We had him lined up to go chasing a couple of times in seasons gone by, but he had setbacks at the wrong time, and we ended up staying hurdling with him. He’s easier to keep sound over hurdles, but with age and maturity he’ll hopefully stand up to it better this season.

Form profile

A 147-rated hurdler, she won four of her five starts for Mullins in juvenile hurdles last season including the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

Trainer says

I’d say she’ll more than likely be one for the Mares’ Hurdle and we’ll be working backwards from that. I haven’t decided where to start her yet. She had a busy season last season, so I don’t think I’ll rush her back to get started this season.

Form profile

A 147-rated hurdler, he won two of his five starts over hurdles in 2021/22 including the Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Novice Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival. He finished second on his chasing debut last season and missed the rest of the campaign through injury.

Trainer says

He’s a nice novice chaser to have. We were disappointed to see him beaten on his chasing debut last season, but it was lucky as it turns out as he’s still a novice for this season.

Form profile

A French import that made a winning start for Mullins in a conditions hurdle at Cork in April.

Trainer says

Mister Policeman does fantastic work at home here. He won his race at Cork for us, but based on his homework I thought he would win a lot better than he did. He’s a horse that has huge ability and he’ll go novice chasing this season. He can always go back hurdling if it doesn’t work out, but chasing is the plan. I think he’ll improve a lot from what you saw from him at Cork.

Form profile

A 163-rated chaser, he won four of his first starts in novice chases in 2020/21 including the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, but missed all of the 2021/22 season due to injury and made his return late last season over hurdles.

Trainer says

I’m very happy with how he came out of last season after his two comeback runs. He’s in great shape now. I’ll start him off over hurdles to get a run under his belt and the plan after that will be to go back over fences. He has had his share of problems, but it’s a case of so far, so good with him.

Form profile

A 146-rated hurdler, he won both of his starts in novice hurdles last season including a Grade 3 at the Fairyhouse Easter Festival.

Trainer says

He’s going to go novice chasing and looks more of a stayer.

Form profile

A 152-rated hurdler, he has both of his starts over fences by a wide margin this season.

Trainer says

He’s taken to chasing very well. The obvious target is the Drinmore Novice Chase, but he’s had a long summer and hasn’t had much of a break, so I’m toying with the idea of giving him a break now and coming back for Christmas and the spring.

Form profile

A 166-rated hurdler, he has won seven of his 10 starts over hurdles including five Grade 1 races.

Trainer says

He stays over hurdles and the Morgiana Hurdle would look an obvious starting point, with Impaire Et Passe going for the Hatton’s Grace. We’ll enter them both for both of them to give us the option of switching if we need to, but that’s what we have in mind at the minute. It’s hard to see him beating Constitution Hill at the minute, but I’m hoping he’ll improve. Even if he doesn’t, there are plenty of Grade 1 races there for him in Ireland. Every horse is only one gallop away from an injury. We are all trying to get them to the same place and some are always likely to fall by the wayside along the way, so you can’t be running away from one horse.

Form profile

A 163-rated chaser, he has won three of his six starts over fences and finished second in the Irish Gold Cup at the Dublin Racing Festival last season.

Trainer says

We briefly considered hunter chasing for him, but he isn’t qualified for this coming season, so we’ll go down the Gold Cup route with him.

Form profile

A 152-rated hurdler, he has won two of his six starts over hurdles including the Galway Hurdle in August.

Trainer says

He was very disappointing at Tipperary, and we’ve given him a bit of a break.

Form profile

A 138-rated hurdler, she won two of her three starts in juvenile hurdles last season including a Grade 1 contest at Aintree.

Trainer says

She’s a fine, big mare. We are looking at going novice chasing with her with the benefit of all the weight allowances as a four-year-old filly. That’s our plan at the minute and we’ll see how she goes.