RACING CHELTENHAM NEWS:WILLIE MULLINS has issued an upbeat bulletin about the rarely-sighted but brilliant mare Quevega.

She has won the last three renewals of the OLBG.com-sponsored David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle, and is an odds-on favourite to make it four next month.

Apart from her first season with Mullins, Quevega has made a winning seasonal reappearance in the race, a preparation that is virtually unheard off, but seems to suit the eight-year-old well.

“She’s in great form. She was in terrific form about three weeks ago and she just went out of sorts a little bit so I gave her 10 easy days,” said Mullins.

“Now she’s back, good and firing again. She wouldn’t have run, but it meant I would have had nothing to do with her other than keep her ticking over.

“I like to get them ready, then if anything goes wrong you can give them a bit of a break, rather than build them up totally for the Festival.

“The other horses have a run and then you can build them up to the festival. Two years ago I ran her in a schooling hurdle and she came back lame on the same leg I’d had a problem with the previous year, and it gave me such a fright I said I wouldn’t run her again until the festival.

“It seems to work and she takes her training well that way. I’m very pleased with her.

“Her breeder told me her mother was never any good until she was eight or nine so that bodes well. I can’t disagree with him, she’s certainly as good as she was.”