Sempre Medici© Photo Healy Racing
Sempre Medici is to be part of Willie Mullins' formidable assault on the Stan James Champion Hurdle following his victory at Gowran on Saturday.
The six-year-old may be the biggest price of the Mullins brigade headed by odds-on favourite and defending champion Faugheen with Arctic Fire and Nichols Canyon giving the trainer the first three in the betting.
However, Sempre Medici is a decent horse in his own right and staked his claim to be in the Cheltenham showpiece on March 15 with a seven-length triumph in the Grade Two Red Mills Trial Hurdle.
"It was nice. It looks like he will have to run in the Champion Hurdle. I don't think there's much else for him," Mullins told At The Races.