Mullins hopes to add silver lining to Cheltenham cloud

Jump racing's showpiece The Cheltenham Festival gets underway on Tuesday but the 2014 edition will be known as the 'year of the cloud' according to leading Irish trainer Willie Mullins because of a doping case involving another Irish handler. Philip Fenton, who will saddle Irish hope Last Instalment, owned by Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary, in the blue riband Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday, is facing a court case after anabolic steroids were allegedly found at his yard two years ago. He strongly denies any wrongdoing. However, he did get a boost when his horses were cleared to run at Cheltenham last week by British racing's governing body the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) after they carried out emergency dope tests on his intended runners. Mullins, who will send 40 horses to the Festival, is adamant that regardless of the outcome, the affair has had an impact. "Lots of people have missed the fact that it has put a cloud over our game in the biggest festival of the year," Mullins told The Irish Times. "That's what it will be known as -- the year of the cloud. "People in racing are in a bubble. We don't look out. But if this was another sport we would say 'Yeah, they're all at it'. "We don't realise that people will be saying the same about us. There are so many other sports and things people can put their money into. So we have to mind our game," added the 57-year-old. Mullins also said he was worried that some of his leading fancies could be targeted by punters hoping to nobble his horses with sedatives. "We have some very fancied horses and it would make a lot of money for someone if they were going to Cheltenham and they could alter the course of events." One of those stable stars, legendary hurdler Hurricane Fly will bid to get the meeting off to a great start with a third Champion Hurdle win on Tuesday. If successful it would see the 10-year-old extend his world record in Grade One races to 20 victories. His main rivals look to be another Irish runner in Our Conor, who is half his age at five and won the Triumph Hurdle at the Festival last year in terrific style, and English duo My Tent or Yours and The New One. However, Hurricane Fly got the better of Our Conor in the Irish Champion Hurdle in January while My Tent or Yours, trained by Nicky Henderson, suffered an injury scare last week and The New One is untried at this level. Henderson, whose father Johnny was instrumental 50 years ago in bringing together a group of people to secure the future of Cheltenham as a racecourse and not following nine other racecourses lead in selling out to a housing developer, has been cited as saying he is fed up picking up the newspapers and seeing Mullins's name all over them. However, the 63-year-old Englishman should feature strongly and whilst he will be without his superb two mile chaser Sprinter Sacre, who had a heart scare earlier in the season, he will still return with last season's Gold Cup winner Bob's Worth. His jockey Barry Geraghty, who once owned the horse and then sold him to Henderso, believes that despite a light campaign his love of Cheltenham, where he has won five times in five starts, including three at the Festival, will see him at his best. "I've got plenty of good, solid rides but Bob's Worth is the standout," said the 34-year-old Irishman. "I bought him unraced before selling him on to Nicky, so we go back a long way and it's been magic to watch and help develop him into a Gold Cup winner. "There's something about the place that really brings him alive." Source: AFP