Princess Zoe could return to the Flat after Cheltenham Festival tilt
Cheltenham Festival raider Princess Zoe could return to the Flat in the summer, with the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot again on the agenda.
Connections of the popular grey are currently mulling over options for Cheltenham with Mares' Novices' Hurdle or the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle the likely destination.
She was runner-up to Subjectivist in 2021 Gold Cup and beaten six and three-quarter lengths by Kyprios in the two-and-a-half mile feature last June.
Trainer Tony Mullins fears the Aidan O'Brien-trained winner will be near impossible to beat, yet is not going to duck the challenge.
Mullins also believes Princess Zoe has a "very serious winning chance" in whatever Cheltenham Festival race she runs in, with the Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle her likely landing spot.
The eight-year-oldĀ made a winning hurdling debut, dead-heating in the a mares' maiden at Leopardstown, having previously been a regular top-class performer on the Flat, where she secured a Group One triumph in the 2020 Prix du Cadran, as well as landing the Group Three Sagaro Stakes at Ascot.
Though she made a winning start over hurdles, sharing the spoils with Ladybank in the extended two-and-a-half-mile contest, bookmakers were largely unimpressed, offering a general 20/1 for the Mares' Novices' Hurdle and the Albert Bartlett.