Vautour good to go at Ascot
The six-year-old won at the Cheltenham Festival for the second successive year with a mesmerising performance in the JLT Novices’ Chase in March and heads ante-post lists for both the King George VI Chase at Kempton and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
“Vautour will probably run at Ascot on Saturday. He’s working well and is in good form,” said Mullins.
Set to take on Vautour in the two-mile-five-furlong Grade Two is long-absent O’Faolains Boy.
The Rebecca Curtis-trained 2014 RSA Chase winner missed last season with a tendon injury and has not been seen since finishing fifth in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Aintree in April of last year.
He also holds an entry in the Betfair Chase at Haydock on the same afternoon, but is set to head for Berkshire.
“O’Faolains Boy definitely runs this weekend and I would probably say we will go to Ascot with him,” said Curtis.
“Haydock is probably the better distance for him but I just think after a long lay-off he doesn’t need a hard first run back to start.
“They will go a flat-out gallop all the way in the Betfair and there will be no chance to get a breather into him.
“I’ve got to think of further down the line and this will be a good prep run.”
Trainer David Bridgwater gave stable stalwart The Giant Bolster an entry at Ascot, but he is unlikely to take up his engagement.
Retirement was considered over the summer, but connections have decided to bring him back and he is set to reappear in the Hennessy Gold Cup on Saturday week.
Bridgwater said: “We’ll wait for Newbury, I’d have thought.
“He seems fine at home. We’re happy with him and in good form.
“We’ll see what happens in the Hennessy before we make any plans.”
Meanwhile, Don Poli is the headline act among 47 entries for the Betfred Becher Chase at Aintree on December 5.
The Mullins-trained six-year-old is prominent in ante-post lists for the Cheltenham Gold Cup following a brilliant display in last season’s RSA Chase but he is also an intriguing contender over the Grand National fences.
Mullins has also entered another Grade One winner in Valseur Lido, while a potentially strong Irish challenge includes Goonyella, Heathfield, First Lieutenant and Irish Grand National hero Thunder And Roses.
Trainer Sandra Hughes said of the latter: “Thunder And Roses came back very well from his summer holiday and had a run over hurdles in Clonmel last week.
“I am very happy with how he’s come out of that and it will hopefully leave him spot-on for a good run in the Becher.
“We want to give him a view of the fences before the Grand National in April. That is his main aim this year.
“After the Becher he will probably have another run in January and then we will see.”
Other possible runners include the Paul Nicholls-trained pair of Rocky Creek and Unioniste, 2014 Grand National winner Pineau De Re and this year’s runner-up Saint Are.
