Mullins baffled by Kempes flop

Willie Mullins remains at a loss to explain the lifeless display of Kempes in last Friday's Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The Hennessy winner was considered a major player in the blue riband event but was pulled up, having failed to get competitive at any stage.

"I think he's all right, but we're just getting the vet to have a look at him," said the champion trainer.

"He was never going at any stage and I'm trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Whether I put the tongue-tie on wrongly or whether the girths were too tight - he just never seemed happy from when he jumped off."

So Young was considered one of the bankers of the meeting by many in the Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle, but finished third behind First Lieutenant and Rock On Ruby.

Mullins is now considering a step up in trip for his talented five-year-old.

"So Young will probably go for a staying novice hurdle at Punchestown and I think he'll stay hurdling next season," the trainer told At The Races.

"I thought the reason he wasn't in the position he should have been in was because he didn't have enough tactical speed.

"He was staying on at the end."

Highly-regarded duo Mikael D'Haguenet and Quel Esprit failed to complete the RSA Chase but are likely to remain over fences.

"I think they'll stick chasing, although we'll have to decide if Mikael just doesn't jump fences as well as he jumps hurdles," Mullins continued.

"We haven't got around to talking about that yet, so we'll see, but Quel Esprit is a chaser.

"We've just got to fine tune tactics with him, but he just made up so much ground over his fences and he gallops so well.

"We just haven't worked out what's the best way to ride him."

A couple who did live up to expectations in major events were Golden Silver and Mourad.

The consistent Golden Silver placed fourth in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, while Mourad found only Big Buck's and Grands Crus too strong in the World Hurdle.

"Golden Silver ran a fantastic race and he'll probably come back to Punchestown. I couldn't have asked any more from him," the trainer added.

"Mourad did everything that was asked and I don't think we left one pound behind us there.

"He could improve from six to seven. He's handy enough so he'll stick to hurdling and we might mix it on the Flat with him as well.

"He could go for something at Ascot, or something like the Ebor at York."