Princess Zoe getting ready for another Flat campaign Tony Mullins is planning another Flat campaign with Princess Zoe who improved out of all proportions last year culminating with victory in the Group 1 Qatar Prix du Cadran at Longchamp on Arc weekend. The grey daughter of Jukebox Jury was beaten off a mark of 64 on her first start for current connections at Navan in June before going on a five-race winning spree that included two valuable handicaps at the Galway Festival, the Listed Oyster Stakes at the same venue before victory at the top table in France. Mullins has been blown away by the reaction to her achievements saying, “I was amazed the way the public latched onto her. It’s rare on the Flat that the public endear themselves to a horse like they have to her. It’s a massive dream for us and I just love the way the public love her.” A tilt at the Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle had been mooted last year but the six-year-old will stick to the Flat and is likely to reappear at the Curragh in April. “She’s done loads of slow work in very soft ground and will probably go away now. Jim Bolger very kindly lets us work in his place so she might go there or up the Old Vic on the Curragh and then we’ll decide the next move after the first piece of work. “We’re looking at the Alleged Stakes (April 17) and only a mile and a quarter. I don’t know if it’s a winnable distance for her at that level but we’re going to try it. “I have always been adamant that she’s as good at a mile and a half as she is at two and a half so we’re going to set about proving it. If we’re wrong we’ll switch back and use distance races but her work has shown me that she is a Group filly at a mile and a half and we intend to prove it to the public. “I’ve been in racing all my life and I’ve never seen anyone else’s horse improve as fast as she did. Things happened so fast and then I was a little afraid at the time that I was going to fast but she just kept answering every call.” The Gowran trainer may still be represented in the Mares’ Novice at Cheltenham with Rescue Package. She won twice last year and was hampered when reappearing recently in the Paddy Mullins Mares’ Handicap Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival in Leopardstown. “Princess Zoe has formed a great relationship with a jumping mare called Rescue Package who might have a chance in the Mares Novice in Cheltenham. “It’s amazing the bond that they have created between them and some days when Rescue Package might be going away for a bit of work and Princess Zoe is left out with something else she’s definitely not as happy until she has her friend Rescue Package.”
