Stars okay after Auteuil exertions Willie Mullins reports Thousand Stars to be in much better health on Monday after the popular grey became distressed following the French Champion Hurdle at Auteuil. Winner of the race twice previously, the nine-year-old finished in ninth behind the impressive home-trained winner Gemix on Sunday. There were some worrying scenes after the race, but Mullins is much happier with his condition a day later. "He's much better, he seems to have recovered and it may have been exhaustion," said Mullins. "We thought he was in good form going into the race but he disappointed there the last day, there was a lot of traveling involved and he may have just been remembering a bad experience. "We'll get him home now and send him out to grass and see how he is. I think he'll be OK to come back next year, but when something like this happens, it always makes you think about their future." Mullins also ran Zaidpour (third) and On His Own (seventh) in the race, as well as winning with Diakali earlier on the card. "All the others that ran are fine, there's nothing more for any of them now so they'll all be going out to grass with Thousand Stars."
