McConnell is right to be excited about the Mahler Mission

Following his fourth-place finish in the Grande Course de Haies d'Auteuil, John McConnell regards Mahler Mission as a “proper Grade One horse”.

The gelding's early campaign saw two second-place finishes in the Colin Parker and the Coral Gold Cup, laying the groundwork for his April bid at Aintree for the Grand National.

He therefore easily qualified for the major race in Liverpool and was afforded a genuine opportunity. Unfortunately, he and rider Ben Harvey split ways at The Chair.

After making it through the race without suffering any major injuries, Mahler Mission was sent to compete in the French Champion Hurdle at Auteuil's main meeting.

Once again partnered by Harvey, he ran a strong race to finish fourth, trailing only Losange Bleu, a multiple Graded winner, and Shark Hanlon's King George VI hero, Hewick.

After finishing the race in high spirits, Mahler Mission will now have a summer vacation before organising the following campaign.

“He’s absolutely fine, he came out of the race really well actually,” said McConnell. “We were very happy with the run as the ground was probably a little bit quicker than we’d anticipated. That probably didn’t play to his strengths, but he ran very well. That proves he’s a proper Grade One horse I think, we haven’t made any proper plans about next season yet but he’s loads of options. He earned about £100,000 in prize-money this year without winning a race, which is pretty good, he gives everything every time. It would have been great to see him get around in the National to see where he ended up, but it wasn’t to be. We were delighted to be competitive there on Saturday – it was a great experience and we’re looking forward to next season. He’ll have a summer holiday now and during that time we’ll come up with some sort of a plan.”