McConnell has Grade 1 Missions in mind for stable star John McConnell's stable star Mahler Mission is ready to start his season and the Stamullen trainer has a couple of targets in mind next month for the versatile eight-year-old. A faller two out when in front in the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham in March 2023, Mahler Mission finished a fine second in Newbury's Coral Gold Cup on last season's reappearance in December. After unseating Ben Harvey at the Chair in the Grand National, the bay gelding was only a length-and-a-half off runner-up Hewick when a very creditable fourth in the Racing TV Grande Course de Haies D´Auteuil (French Champion Hurdle) in May. McConnell, whose original plan was to run Mahler Mission in the He’llberemembered Hurdle at Thurles' cancelled meeting today, explained: "I’ve stuck him in the Ladbrokes Champion Chase in Down Royal.  “There are only nine in it and he’s not out of place in it. It will be a six or seven-runner race and there is plenty of prize money so he might go there. “It’s two weeks before a Grade 1 hurdle in France that we are aiming him at, so whether it’s too close I don’t know but I’d love to have a go at it.  “If he went to France without a run, I wouldn’t mind. He could have a racecourse gallop.”  Additional reporting by Alan Magee
