Mullins delighted with Vautour's away day Willie Mullins was pleased with Vautour's Ascot win last weekend, despite the lukewarm response in some quarters. In beating Ptit Zig by nearly two lengths, in receipt of 5lb, he was some way below his brilliant best, but Mullins believes there were factors that could have contributed to his display. "I was delighted to travel to England and get a victory," the Co Carlow handler said. "He probably wasn't as impressive as most people were expecting, but he did the job. "It's always very hard going away from home. It's like a football team playing away from home. "It's never as easy as it sounds and there were awful storms on the ferry across. "March is a long way off, you just try and pick the competitions you might win on the way ahead of one of the big ones in March." A day later Douvan had a much easier time of it at Navan, with his only scare coming at the last. "Douvan got a bit of a freebie, he was left alone in front, and then some horse got up behind him running to the last and probably made him race," said Mullins. "We didn't learn much other than he gallops and jumps. I thought in making the mistake he was very professional, he stood back too far, reached for it and seemed to know what he was doing, he picked himself up and galloped up the straight. "I think we'll go for the Racing Post Arkle at Christmas."
