Banquet out for season
Leading Irish stayer Alexander Banquet, trained by Willie Mullins, will miss the rest of this season through injury, it was revealed today.
The nine-year-old, winner of the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Leopardstown in February, was forced to miss his intended reappearance in the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase at the weekend.
“The problem is with his suspensory ligament and he is out for the season,” Mullins told the Racing Post.
“There were only two races we were really interested in – the Ericsson Chase at Leopardstown at Christmas and the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup there in February.
“We won’t have enough time to get him ready for even the second of those, so he will be rested.”
News of Alexander Banquet’s setback comes at a bad time for Mullins, who has already been forced to retire Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup winner Be My Royal, and whose Its Time For A Win suffered a fatal fall in the Thomas Pink Gold Cup.
