Mullins yet to settle on Lossiemouth’s Punchestown target

Lossiemouth will head to Punchestown having not been declared for Sandown on Saturday – but Willie Mullins is still to decide whether she will take part in a potential all-star clash with Constitution Hill and stablemate State Man or stick to racing against her own sex next week.

After victories at the Cheltenham Festival and Aintree’s Grand National meeting, there was a chance Rich Ricci’s talented mare would visit the UK for a third time this spring for the bet365 Select Hurdle as the master of Closutton seeks to retain his British trainers’ title.

However, she will stay on home soil, with Mullins saying: “She’s in both the Champion Hurdle and the Mares’ Hurdle at Punchestown and when going through everything, we just felt to be fair to the mare she should probably stay in Punchestown rather than come to Sandown when we also considered being fair to owners and everything.

“Rich has been such a great supporter of us and probably helped us get to where we are as he has backed us so much along the way and Lossiemouth was probably one of the first ones I took off the list (for Sandown).

“Rich said to me ‘if you need her, run her at Sandown, no problem’, but she goes to Punchestown and she’s in great order and that’s the plan at the moment.”

Lossiemouth was the beneficiary when Constitution Hill came to grief at the penultimate flight in the Aintree Hurdle and a mouthwatering rematch would be a highlight of the Punchestown Festival on the evening of May 2.

Mullins hopes that duel will happen again some day, but with Lossiemouth also holding an entry in the SBK Irish EBF Mares Champion Hurdle over her preferred two-and-a-half-mile distance on May 3, all options remain open depending discussions with her owner.

Mullins added: “I haven’t even looked at the entries yet for Punchestown as I’m concentrating on Sandown and I haven’t spoke to Rich about which way to go yet, so it’s probably not fair to comment at this stage – but at some stage it will happen I hope.”

Meanwhile, one Mullins ace set to change tack at Punchestown is Ryanair Chase hero Fact To File, who is poised to drop back to the minimum distance to take on Barry Connell’s Cheltenham hero Marine Nationale in the William Hill Champion Chase.

When asked about the April 29 Grade One, Mullins said: “That looks a possibility and we’re keen to see. Fact To File is such a good jumper and can gain so much ground in the air that I think we will probably have a go at two miles next week.”