Maughreen to be roared on by army of fans at Festival

Maughreen will bring her own 80-strong fan base to Cheltenham next week when she lines up in the Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle.

The six-year-old is related to the great Faugheen on the dam side and garnered plenty of attention when winning on her bumper debut at Punchestown by 11 lengths last January.

A setback followed and it would be nearly a year before she had her next start, which came in a mares’ maiden hurdle at the same track 378 days after her first racecourse appearance.

Though she had that significant absence to overcome, Maughreen was still an easy winner at the first time of asking over timber, strolling to a five-length victory ahead of 11 rivals as the 4-11 favourite.

Connections and trainer Willie Mullins decided she should head straight to the Cheltenham Festival as a result of that performance, where she will be well supported by a huge travelling group of Closutton Racing Club members.

“She’s great, we’re very happy with her and very excited to have a runner,” said the syndicate’s James Fenton.

“We had Shewearsitwell for the Closutton Racing Club and now we’ve Maughreen, she goes there with a real live chance.

“The anticipation is building and our bags are being packed for next week. There’s about 80 travelling over, so a big contingent, and to be fair to Cheltenham, they’ve been great to deal with so far.

“I should say she’ll be the most well-supported horse on the day! Hopefully, she’ll travel well and do everything right, I suppose all the work is done now and she just has to give it her best shot.”

Maughreen is an imposing type with a chasing career ahead of her, but given the time she missed, Fenton is keen to make the most of her hurdling phase for now.

“She’s a baby, even though she’s a six-year-old, she’s a small bit of furnishing to do but we’re very happy with her,” he said.

“She’s a chaser in the making but she can jump hurdles as good as anything, she’s a good, big, robust mare and we look forward to running her over fences.

“She has got unfinished business over hurdles first and we want to get that seen to.”