Soldier In Milan set to bypass hurdling for chasing Punchestown bumper winner Soldier In Milan is scheduled to go chasing once he makes his return to action. The Soldier Of Fortune gelding hacked up in a Monksgrange point-to-point in March 2024 for Cormac Doyle, and went into many a notebook when bringing up plenty of bets on racecourse debut for Emmet Mullins at the Punchestown Festival in May. He hasn't been out since then and Mullins explained: "He has been a very hard horse to train for the last two years and I didn't think it was worth wasting time in a novice hurdling year. "I have had enough of a headache dealing with him, rather than going back over his form-lines, and he is tricky at the best of times. "It'll be hard to get the runs into him, but hopefully his big day will come over fences at some stage." He holds a pair of beginners' chases entries at Leopardstown over Christmas. Additional reporting by Tom Weekes
