Willie Mullins: Cheltenham Festival 2015 team

Our Will Hayler sought out the latest news on all of the big (and some of the not-so-big) names in the Willie Mullins Festival squad.

Arctic Fire: He's the one (in the Champion) who is improving all the time. I'm not discounting him. I still haven't got the best out of him yet. I think he's one that even if he doesn't win the Champion, he's going to win a really big race over hurdles.

Ballycasey: He disappointed me the other day day at Ascot. Ive entered him in a few handicaps and we'll see how he is. We don't have much for him at home except, perhaps, for the Irish National.

Boston Bob: I was a little bit disappointed with him in the Hennessy but I imagine he'll go for the Gold Cup. It does look an open race.

Djakadam: He was very very good last time. It was a performance that certainly made us look at the Gold Cup and that's the plan. He handled the track until he got one fence wrong at the Festival last season. I don't think his jumping is an issue. He got round Newbury okay and Gowran is a fair test for any horse. Ruby said he'd never gone as easy in the Thyestes and to me that was a Gold Cup performance.

On His Own: He’s another intended runner in the Gold Cup. Last year’s winner could win it again the way it is looking this year and he was certainly nearly good enough then. He jumps a bit to his right which is not good but he has so much stamina that it doesn’t matter so much that he gives away a little bit of ground.

Champagne Fever: I imagine the way the cards are falling it will look like the Champion Chase. Probably after his performance the other day you might have him go for the Ryanair, but the way connections are leaning, I think it could be the Champion. That [latest victory] will put him in the right frame of mind. He came out of his stable and down the chute into the gallop like a different horse and he’s been looking out of his box ever since too. He really did enjoy it.

The chances are he's going to run in the Sky Bet Supreme. I thought he learnt more bad habits than good ones last time but I'll say no more about that. Connections are leaning towards the Supreme with him and that's fine with me.

Kalkir: He’s set for the Triumph. He put in a very good performance last time and I think he’ll improve for that.

Pont Alexandre: He has a mountain to climb to get there but I stuck him in. He’s just all right. I’m not going to tell you that he’s good. He’s probably more of a Fairyhouse or Punchestown horse. He’s just had a few setbacks.

Vroom Vroom Mag: I doubt she will go to Cheltenham. She's in the mares' race at Limerick, but we'll see what happens.

Alvisio Ville: The chances are he's going to run in the Sky Bet Supreme. I thought he learnt more bad habits than good ones last time but I'll say no more about that. Connections are leaning towards the Supreme with him and that's fine with me.

Outlander: I'd imagine he'll run in the Neptune. That's more than likely. I think he's got Neptune written all over him.

McKinley: I don't know what we're going to do with him but I would probably say Neptune.

Shaneshill: If Nichols Canyon runs in the Neptune, I'd say he'd be going for the Supreme but he has a good bit of work to do first. We're not there with him yet.

Max Dynamite: He's probably a Neptune horse but I've put him in the handicaps and we'll see what he ends up with.

Black Hercules: He is more than likely going for the Albert Bartlett. I think he's just right for that race.

He’s been marked in for the Supreme for some time now and we’ll take anything on. He’s just got lots of natural ability and every question we ask him, he has the answers to. He’s one of the nicest horses we have ever had going to Cheltenham.

Nichols Canyon: He was a winner on the Flat at 1m6f but he could go over any trip. The owner hopes he might have a new Inglis Drever. At this stage, I reckon he'll end up in in the Neptune.

Tell Us More: He could go to the Supreme or the Neptune. It will depend upon how he gallops. He has to make me happy at home before he goes there at all – which he hasn’t been doing lately.

Douvan: He’s been marked in for the Supreme for some time now and we’ll take anything on. Ground won’t be an issue. He’s just got lots of natural ability and every question we ask him, he has the answers to. He’s one of the nicest horses we have ever had going to Cheltenham.

Faugheen: He’s doing everything right. I looked at him, I looked at Vautour. To have a potential Champion Hurdler is huge for the yard. We thought Vautour was a horse who could win the Arkle and possibly be a Gold Cup horse one day but we weren’t as sure about that for Faugheen. I can’t find a reason why he won’t run well [in the Champion Hurdle]. I asked Ruby if he needed another race after Kempton and he said ‘No’ and I was guided by that.

Vautour: He came back to win the other day. I just want to get him back to where he was last December. I still feel like I have got a good bit of work to do with him but I still think it will come. I’m heading towards the JLT - if something happened to Un De Sceaux, Vautour would probably take his place in the Arkle but otherwise he’s going to run in the JLT, I imagine.

Adriana des Mottes: What am I going to do with Adriana Des Mottes? The truth is she might stay at home as there might be better options at open.

Blood Cotil: He’s a tough horse who is in the Arkle and the JLT and I put him a handicap to have a look there too.

Gitane Du Berlais: I’d say she’s probably more likely to run in the JLT.

Un De Sceaux: It’s going to be tough for him coming up that hill but he has every chance. He beats anything he has taken on and he’s just the type of chaser you love to train. A horse that takes a fence from wherever he meets it is heartstopping. The press, the punters, whoever have decided if he stands up he wins and I’m happy enough to go with that. He learnt his trade jumping in France. His fall was a novice mistake, but he’s not mistake-prone – we’ve seen him go in short and go long when he wants.

I imagine Gigginstown and Bryan Cooper might prefer the RSA and I might prefer him to run in the four-miler. He’s just so lazy that I think the four miles might be just up his street...

Annie Power: She has hit every target we wanted her to hit since her setback. We were just getting her ready for the Hatton’s Grace when I had a bone scan done and it showed a pre-stress fracture. I might still have been able to run her and win it, but the advice was that if she did run, it might fracture. We pulled the plug there and said we’d start again on January 1 and that if we couldn’t start again then we wouldn’t be going to Cheltenham. We’ll look at the World Hurdle but I’m aiming her at the Mares’ Hurdle at the moment. She showed last year that she is well up to winning the Mares’ Hurdle, but if they keep falling out of the Stayers’, who knows? She only stayed over hurdles to be aimed at the Champion Hurdle, but the injury took the Champion out of the equation.

Don Poli: People say I should say which race these horses are going to go for earlier, but I nominated the race for him back in November and now it's not so certain. I have to look at the Gigginstown team and a lot will depend upon what they want to run in it. I think the four-miler is coming back to being a race with real class in it since they changed the conditions. He’s going for one or the other. I imagine Gigginstown and Bryan Cooper might prefer the RSA and I might prefer him to run in the four-miler. He’s just so lazy that I think the four miles might be just up his street, but it’s important to get winners and it looks like Very Wood might go for the four-miler so they might want to reshuffle their plans.

Valseur Lido: To me, he was an RSA horse, but if Don Poli comes back to run in the RSA, they might want to go for the JLT Chase. I have to look at things from an owner’s point of view. I think he will stay though. I think I ran him in the wrong race at the Festival last year – I should have run him in the Neptune. The further he goes, the better he’ll be.

Hurricane Fly: It can be done at 11. People say he doesn’t run well at Cheltenham but I’m not so sure – he’s run there four times, won twice and I think I had two good excuses for the other times. I felt on his last two runs last season that he wasn’t sparking the way the way he can spark. He wasn’t sparking not enough not to run him, but he wasn’t quite there. So far this year he hasn’t shown any of those signs – and he will tell you all right. He’s very clear in what he’s telling us and so far it’s very good. He was quite tired after the Irish Champion for a week, when it’s usually only a day or two. He went back in himself, but since then he has been as good as ever. If he can do it, it would be my dream result of the Festival.

Aminabad: She’s in at Naas on Sunday and we’ll see what happens there.

Diocosimo: He might well run on Saturday but I would be thinking more of the Triumph than the Supreme.

He’s possibly my World Hurdle hope this year. I put him in the handicaps too, but I think I’d rather run him in the World Hurdle and I think my owner would rather run him in it too.

Bumper horses: I see Au Quart De Tour is the favourite but he’s a little bit sick at the moment. To me Bordini has it all, but we’ll run as many as we can get in. Au Quart De Tour has been very good, Balko Des Flos has been good, Stone Hard has been very good. Pylonthepressure is the one who has taken us by surprise. I was going to run Up For Review at Naas and Pylonthepressure at Leopardstown but Pylonthepressure did an amazing piece of work and I switched them. To me Bordini has put in the easiest performance but that performance of Pylonthepressure at Naas was extraordinary – he ran away from a decent field.

Glens Melody: She’s in great form, she ran a fantastic trial in Warwick. She goes straight for the Mares’ Hurdle. She has been a little unlucky to be up against some good mares, but she went very close in the race last year, Annie Power has had her issues this season and she might get it right this year.

Briar Hill: He’s fine after his fall. I’m not sure he would have won, but he would have given the winner a race and that’s fine for me because at least it showed that he was coming back to form. He’s been showing me some good work recently and hopefully he can do it again. I think he’ll be fine. He’s possibly my World Hurdle hope this year. I put him in the handicaps too, but I think I’d rather run him in the World Hurdle and I think my owner would rather run him in it too.

Arbre De Ville: I don’t know how he is handicapped, but I’ve put him in there and he might go for the Martin Pipe or the Coral. I’ll see how he looks at the weights.

Un Atout: He’s not going to go chasing this year and probably will miss the Festival unless he does something fantastic at home. He’s up against it but we’ve stuck him in a few races, just in case.

Back In Focus: In good form, the National is probably his aim. We’ll have to see how the handicapper treats him before we decide whether to go to Cheltenham or not.

Milsean: We’ll probably split him up from Measureofmydreams and run one in the Albert Bartlett and the other in the Neptune. I think Milsean might be the better stayer of the two and I’m hoping better ground will help him. I hope there’s more in the tank, but they’re both two decent horses.