Maughreen heads to Punchestown for hurdling bow

All eyes will be on the impressive bumper winner Maughreen when she makes her hurdling debut at Punchestown on Monday.

The six-year-old, who is from the family of the great Faugheen on the dam side, is trained like her relative by Willie Mullins and made her debut last January.

She started out in a Punchestown bumper and was an easy 11-length winner, with the form holding up as several of the mares behind her have fared well since.

Maughreen has not seen a racecourse since that effort, however, with a setback keeping her sidelined for the rest of the season.

Having recovered from that issue, she has been limbering up for her jumping debut recently and will return to Punchestown to contest the #50,000 BetVictor Graduation Bonus Series Mares Maiden Hurdle.

“We’re very happy with her, she worked during the week and her schooling is very good,” said James Fenton of owners Closutton Racing Club.

“We haven’t really asked her any serious questions at home or anything, so there’ll be improvement to come.

“We’re in against a very good mare in Familiar Dreams, she’s won four bumpers and two of them have been black type, so it will take a fair performance to beat the likes of her.

“We’re hoping she jumps well and puts in a big run, so we get our season off to a good start.

“The race has thrown up some nice mares over the last couple of runnings and she’s back to where she won her bumper.

“There’s nothing wrong with the form of that bumper. To the eye, she won it very impressively and if you look back, a lot of the mares behind her have come out and won since.

“She’s been off the track since, obviously, she had some small niggles. In the long run, things happen for a reason and the time she’s had off has been an asset.

“She’s developed now, she’s a big mare and those mares just need a little more time to fill out.

“With her size, it was always going to be a positive for her to have more time to mature, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise.”