Distance poser for Mikael Willie Mullins may have a trip poser at Cheltenham in March with Mikael D'Haguenet, the French import who won all six novice hurdle starts for the Co. Carlow trainer in devastating fashion. Mullins is confident there will be even more to come now he prepares to tackle fences on Irish soil for the first time, and is delighted a splint problem he picked up after returning from a summer break now seems to be behind him. "Mikael D'Haguenet is fine and thankfully he seems none the worse after the splint trouble he had," Mullins said at a stable open day this morning. "We're hoping he'll get back on track now, but this is only his third morning on the big gallop so I would say it will be well into December before we see him on a racecourse again. "He's run in France over fences before and we know he jumps well, so hopefully we'll get a run into him somewhere and then look at something like the Moriarty Chase at Leopardstown in February. Florida Pearl won that and then went straight to Cheltenham and this fellow could do the same. "I'm not sure about the trip with him because it's sometimes hard to tell with French horses, but you'd hope he'll stay three miles having won the Ballymore Properties Hurdle at Cheltenham. "Having said that, he could end up being an Arkle horse because he certainly isn't short of gears. Hopefully there is plenty to look forward to with him anyway."
