Faugheen good to go for yet another season at the top level

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is an option for the veteran star

Faugheen, ridden by John Codd, on Willie Mullins’ gallops yesterday for the launch of the National Hunt season. Picture: Caroline Norris

No horse older than nine has won the Cheltenham Gold Cup this century but Faugheen is no ordinary horse and Patrick Mullins believes the remarkable veteran could line up in the blue riband of jumps racing at the grand old age of 13.

Retirement seemed to beckon for 2015 Champion Hurdle hero when he was pulled up with a heart problem up at Aintree in April of last year but the switch to fences sparked a renaissance and he brought the house down with Grade One wins at Limerick and Leopardstown before finishing a close-up third in the Marsh Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham.