WILLIE MULLINS was out of luck in a raid on last Sunday’s prestigious Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris card at Auteuil but the champion trainer is going back to Paris for more next month with a double raid on the French Champion Hurdle.

Both Quevega and the Punchestown winner Fiveforthree are being targeted at the Grande Course d’Haies de Auteuil on June 21st, a race that Mullins has won twice in the past with Nobody Told Me (2002) and Rule Supreme (2003.) He is also looking at France’s version of the Triumph Hurdle, the Prix Alain de Breil, as an option for Mourad on the same card.

Mullins ran three horses without success in the traditional Champion Hurdle trial on Sunday, the Prix la Barka, but was encouraged by Quevega’s performance.

“We might have used the wrong tactics with her but I was delighted with the way she finished the race. She and Fiveforthree could go to France for the Champion Hurdle there on the 21st,” he said.

Pomme Tiepy’s fifth in the French version of the Gold Cup was the best of Mullins’s team last weekend but circumstances didn’t suit the Irish visitors.

“It was very hot over there. It must have been 30 degrees and very humid so a lot of horses were finishing distressed”, Mullins said.

Mourad could again clash with his old rival Jumbo Rio next month in the Breil. Edward O’Grady’s horse was narrowly beaten in a Grade Three at Autueil on Sunday and may return to Paris to try to add another Grade One victory to his tally.