Mullins eyeing Leopardstown outing for Debuchet Debuchet could return to the highest level at Leopardstown next month despite being beaten on his jumping debut at the Foxrock venue on St Stephen's Day. The Mags Mullins-trained five-year-old won a bumper at Leopardstown last January before finding only Fayonagh too strong in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival. He rounded off his campaign with a Listed triumph at Limerick and was unsurprisingly a hot favourite for his seasonal reappearance over the festive period, but was beaten into fourth place. Mullins said: "He's good and came out of the race in good form. "I was delighted with the way he ran. I suppose he was the high-profile horse in the race and everyone expects them to win, but I was delighted with him. "He jumped well apart from one mistake and even then he was quick away from the hurdle. He took a blow turning for home, but we felt he'd come on from it and he has." "We might leave him now until the new weekend in Leopardstown (Dublin Racing Festival, February 3 and 4). "There is the Graded novice hurdle for him (Deloitte Novice Hurdle) and that's where we might go, but I'll talk to the owners. "He's in right order at the moment." Debuchet is a general 25-1 shot for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle back at Cheltenham in March and similar odds for the longer Ballymore Novices' Hurdle.
