Lossiemouth ‘fine’ after Leopardstown, but connections left ‘puzzled’

A decision on which race Lossiemouth will contest at next month’s Cheltenham Festival remains up for discussion after the star mare was given a clean bill of health following her defeat in the Irish Champion Hurdle.

The Willie Mullins-trained grey has won the Mares’ Hurdle at Prestbury Park in each of the last two seasons – but after kicking off the current campaign with wins in the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown and the December Hurdle at Leopardstown, she looked well placed to take on the boys in the Champion Hurdle this time around.

However, a lacklustre display on her return to Leopardstown on Sunday saw her suffer a comprehensive reverse at the hands of Gordon Elliott’s Brighterdaysahead, who she had previously beaten over the Christmas period, and connections are keen to leave both options in the Cotswolds on the table at this stage.

Mullins said on Monday Lossiemouth “seems fine”, and her owner Rich Ricci told Racing TV: “(We are) puzzled, she’s fine, scoped very well, she just didn’t show up yesterday – she was beat a long way from home.

“Let’s draw a line through it, we’ll consider what we’re going to do.

“She loves Cheltenham and the good news is she’s fine, she was fine this morning, so it was just one of those days, I think.”

Lossiemouth is a best-priced 6-1 for the Champion Hurdle with bet365, who make her the 5-4 favourite to complete a Mares’ Hurdle hat-trick.

“Let’s see how she comes out, the next couple of weeks will tell the tale,” Ricci added.

“I don’t mind running her in either race, actually. She loves Cheltenham, her best trip is probably two and a half (miles), but it’s a wide-open Champion Hurdle, so we’ve got some decisions to make I suppose.”