“Job done,” declared Willie Mullins after watching Laurina score a bloodless success here that set her up for what still seems an ambitious tilt at the Champion Hurdle, for all that she is third-favourite for the Cheltenham contest.
The Carlow trainer used this same prep-race to ready Annie Power on her way to Champion Hurdle glory three years ago and the question now is whether Laurina can follow up against the top-class pair Buveur D’Air and Apple’s Jade.
This was not a performance that screamed “champion in waiting” but context is everything. Mullins pointed out the mare was breathing heavily as she was unsaddled, a consequence of the equine influenza scare that has so troubled the sport in the last fortnight and required her to have an inoculation injection at a time she was supposed to be building up her exercise.
“Ruby [Walsh] said she needed it badly,” the trainer noted.“With her flu jab, she missed a week’s training which is not ideal. I wanted last week to sharpen her up and have her really ready and hopping today, and the next thing we had to take a pull. So I have to be happy with her knowing what she’s done at home.
“It wouldn’t be the way we’d have scheduled her work coming into a race like this. Hopefully we’ll get a clear run from now to Cheltenham.”
Third-favourite Laurina is now a general 7-2 shot for the Champion Hurdle, having started the day at 5-1. That will be a very different test but Mullins suggested she may be seen to better advantage in a race run at a stronger pace.
“She probably jumped a bit slow for my liking when she was on the bridle but, when he gave her the office to go, she sharpened up her jumping very quickly. The other thing – that tight inside track that we use for this meeting wouldn’t suit her. Ruby said he’d rather be out on a big, galloping track.
“We’ll have to sharpen her up. But she was a very buzzy mare before and she’s matured and maybe that’s why she looked very settled, shall we say? I think the buzz and bustle of Cheltenham will really sharpen her up and a race like the Champion Hurdle, she’s going to have to be sharper.”
Mullins added Laurina looks “every inch a mare that’ll jump fences”, begging the question how well she will cope when taking on specialist two-mile hurdlers.
Mullins, the most successful trainer in Festival history, as of last year, but expects to field a slightly reduced team of around 40 runners next month, having had up to 60 in past years. Cilaos Emery, who had been third-favourite for the Arkle, is in danger of losing his place on the boat after pulling a muscle while schooling at the weekend. “We’ll have to see what he’s like in the next seven days,” the trainer said.
He identified four main contenders among his entries for the Gold Cup, a race he has yet to win, as Bellshill, Kemboy, Al Boum Photo and Invitation Only, while acknowledging the last-named has improvement to make.
He enthused over the readiness of Un De Sceaux, a Ryanair contender, and confirmed it had always been the plan for Penhill to go to the Stayers Hurdle without a recent run.
Sedgefield 1.35 So Satisfied 2.05 Ingleby Hollow 2.40 Lucky Robin 3.15 I’m To Blame 3.50 Snookered 4.25 Trooblue 5.00 Invisible Clouds
Huntingdon 2.15 Western Morning 2.50 Chaparral Prince 3.25 First Quest 4.00 Clondaw Castle 4.35 Sackett 5.10 Loveherandleaveher
Southwell 2.25 Bee Machine 3.00 Sooqaan 3.35 Kadiz 4.10 Angel Palanas 4.45 Epitaph 5.20 Intense Starlet
Wolverhampton 5.05 Anif 5.40 Paradise Boy (nap) 6.10 Doctor Sardonicus 6.40 Liberation Day 7.10 Gantier 7.40 Gabrial The Tiger 8.10 Brandon
Chelmsford 5.50 Point Zero 6.25 Always A Drama (nb) 6.55 Forbidden Planet 7.25 Harvey Dent 7.55 White Coat 8.25 Cashel