Mullins looking for Arkle clues
Willie Mullins has high hopes Missed That will make sufficient progress to hold Arkle Trophy claims at the Cheltenham Festival.
The Champion Bumper winner has yet to tackle fences in public but has done enough in National Hunt Flat events to earn a 10-1 quote from bet365 about him winning next March’s two-mile contest.
Although the gelding’s trainer also has one eye on the Royal & SunAlliance Chase, Mullins is confident the six-year-old has the right profile to make his mark in next year’s Arkle.
“I will try to make an Arkle Trophy horse out of him but I won’t be too disappointed if I have to go to the SunAlliance instead,” explained Mullins.
“He’s ready to run and we are all hopeful he can transform his ability to the fences.
“We just took a view that with his age – he is going to be seven after Christmas – we wanted to start over fences rather than go hurdling.
“I’m aiming for the Arkle but time will tell whether he’s got enough experience to go over the Cheltenham fences at that speed.”
