LEADING CHAMPION BUMPER contender Maughreen has been ruled out of the Cheltenham Festival after suffering a minor setback.
The daughter of Walk In The Park is bred to be smart, being out of a half-sister to the brilliant Faugheen, and could not have been more impressive when scoring by 11 lengths on her racecourse debut at Punchestown in January.
The five-year-old was disputing favouritism with some bookmakers to provide trainer Willie Mullins with a 13th Champion Bumper success at Prestbury Park – and while she will not be making the trip across the Irish Sea, connections are hopeful she will make a full recovery.
James Fenton, racing manager for her Closutton Racing Club owners, said: “The team at Willie’s just copped that she wasn’t moving correctly after a piece of work during the week, we’ve done a bit of investigating to see what was going on and we caught something very small.
“She’s by no means in any danger or anything like that, it’s an injury that I would take every day of the week. It’s very minor and the prognosis for it is described as excellent.
“She was going to Cheltenham, that was the plan. I discussed it on Monday night with Willie and a lot of the members had their plane tickets booked and everything, but they’re very understanding as that’s the game we’re in.”
On whether Maughreen could run later in the spring, Fenton added: “It’s up in the air at the moment, but there’s one thing we won’t be doing and that’s putting pressure on her.
“She’ll be well looked after, we’ll get her right and we’ll kick on again. We’ll just have to reassess her after two weeks and I would expect her to make a full recovery.”
Elsewhere, Newbury’s BetVictor Greatwood Gold Cup meeting was given the green light following a second morning inspection at the Berkshire circuit.
The course was found to be waterlogged in places early on Saturday morning, but officials were keen to give the fixture every chance and the track was passed fit to race shortly before a second planned inspection time of 10am.
Saturday’s Navan card, featuring the Grade Three Flyingbolt Novice Chase and the Grade Two BoyleSports Webster Cup, will also go ahead as scheduled after the course passed a a 7.30am inspection.
Leopardstown’s meeting on Sunday came through an initial Saturday morning inspection, but a further check has been announced for 3pm this afternoon.
“The track at Leopardstown remains unfit for racing at present due to snow still lying in some areas,” said clerk of the course Lorcan Wyer.
“However, there has been improvement since yesterday and further thaw is expected today so will have a further inspection at 3pm this afternoon.”
