Middleham Park Racing excited by link-up with Willie Mullins as novice hurdler receives Cheltenham Festival entries

Top British syndicate group Middleham Park Racing have said they hope to expand their team with Willie Mullins after the Irish champion trainer trained his first winner for them this month.

Stoke The Fire was a 15-length winner for the owner-trainer combination in a maiden hurdle at Tramore on New Year’s Day, a performance that persuaded connections to enter him in the Albert Bartlett and Baring Bingham Novices' Hurdles at the Cheltenham Festival on Tuesday. He is 25-1 and 33-1 for those races.

The five-year-old was bought privately by Middleham Park through bloodstock agent Ross Doyle on the back of a Flat campaign that ended with a head second in the November Handicap at Naas in October.