Punchestown next on the agenda for Golden Ace

Golden Ace is poised to make her second trip to the Punchestown Festival next week, with the Boodles Champion Hurdle currently her favoured option.

Jeremy Scott’s star mare travelled to Ireland off the back of a surprise success in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham last season and proved that victory was no fluke by finishing second to the Willie Mullins-trained State Man in County Kildare.

This time around the eight-year-old holds an alternative entry in the SBK Irish EBF Mares Champion Hurdle, but she is again set to take on the boys.

Scott said: “All being well we’re aiming for Punchestown and we’re probably favouring the Champion Hurdle. We’re sort of third-favourite for both races and we’d probably rather aim for the money!

“Obviously we’re going to see how the situation develops, but I think at the moment that’s where we’re leaning.

“It would be very nice to get her head in front again, but we’re slightly up against it whichever way you go.”

Golden Ace finished fifth in her defence of the Champion Hurdle crown at Cheltenham and subsequently placed fourth in the Aintree Hurdle on what was her first appearance over two-and-a-half miles in over a year.

While she is likely to drop back to the minimum trip in Ireland, Scott is more than happy to run over the longer distance again next season.

He added: “I’ve been very happy with her since Aintree actually, all good. She’ll have had three runs fairly close together, but having missed Wincanton (Kingwell Hurdle in February) I feel she’s fresh and well and she can have a nice holiday after this.

“I think we’ll go down a similar route next season, but we might vary the trip a little bit. I actually thought she ran as well at Aintree if not better than she did at Cheltenham, so I wouldn’t be worried about two-and-a-half.

“I think it slightly depends on the ground – if we got reasonably quick ground you’d probably aim for two-and-a-half and on soft ground two miles suits her all day long really.”