Maughreen handed Fairyhouse target following Festival hiccup

Connections of Maughreen have a Fairyhouse plan pencilled in after her hard-luck tale at Cheltenham.

The six-year-old, who is related to the great Faugheen on the dam side, is trained by Willie Mullins and went into the Festival with an unbeaten record having taken a bumper and a maiden hurdle by wide margins.

She was ridden by Patrick Mullins as an 11-1 chance in the Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, which was held on the penultimate day of the meeting after a week of difficulties at the start.

Unfortunately, the same issues occurred again for Maughreen’s race, and after the field failed to get away the first time they were required to line up for a standing start.

When the tape rose, Maughreen shied away from it and was left facing the wrong way as the rest of her rivals hit their stride, meaning she lost lengths from the beginning and was never at the races.

Mullins minded her from then on and let her hack along at the back, but she could never progress from the rear and was the last horse to finish.

The result was understandably a huge disappointment for James Fenton and his Closutton Racing Club, who own the bay, but he was stoical on reflection and has a clear next step in mind in the Honeysuckle Mares Novice Hurdle.

“She arrived home from Cheltenham the following morning and she’s 100 per cent,” he said.

“We’ll probably look at the Grade One for novice mares at Fairyhouse on Easter Sunday, I think we’ll go in that direction with her.

“We’ll keep our options open in the meantime, hopefully all being well we will go there but ultimately plans will be left to Willie.”

Though the Cheltenham result was obviously frustrating, Fenton was keen to look at the broader picture and glad to have Maughreen home safe and well after two horses lost their lives across the meeting.

“We’ll take it on the chin, you have to bring it into perspective with what happened to Corbetts Cross and Springwell Bay,” he said.

“The main thing is that we have our mare safe and sound and that is 100 per cent more important than anything else that happened.

“Patrick minded her, we had what you might call an expensive schooling round around Cheltenham.

“The main thing is we’ve our horse to look forward to, and my heart goes out to those whose horses didn’t come home.”