Maughreen, related to the great Faugheen and an impressive winner on her sole start in bumpers last season, made a winning return on belated reappearance - and hurdles debut - at Punchestown under jockey Paul Townend for trainer Willie Mullins and in the silks of the Closutton Racing Club.
Allowed to dictate her own terms our in front, the 4-9F jumped pretty well on her first start over obstacles in public and she is likely to improve for this outing, even if it's not expected at this stage that connections will have time to get another run into her ahead of the Cheltenham Festival in March.
The Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle market has come to life of late, with the likes of Gavin Cromwell's Sixandahalf and Paul Nicholls' Jubilee Alpha staking their claim, but Maughreen heads the ante-post lists for the Cheltenham Festival contest now, for which she is a general 3/1.
See how Maughreen fared on her jumping debut in this BetVictor-sponsored maiden hurdle and hear some punchy post-race thoughts from our analyst Ruby Walsh as well as the views of champion trainer Willie Mullins.
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