Mullins confident about Cheltenham as VAT for Market Rasen runner is deferred

The confusion over prohibitive VAT costs for horses travelling between Ireland and Britain took another turn on Friday when Willie Mullins revealed connections of Grangee did not have to pay VAT on her entry to Britain ahead of her run at Market Rasen on Saturday.

Grangee is the first Irish-based runner in Britain since the UK formally left the EU earlier this month, and Mullins had on Thursday expressed fears that application of VAT at 20 per cent of the value of the horse, which would be recoverable after around three months, would create what he described as potentially colossal costs when it came to transporting his equine battalion ahead of the Cheltenham Festival in March.

However, it appeared on Friday that the VAT charge for Grangee had been deferred.