The popular Group One winning mare Princess Zoe is no longer in the care of trainer Tony Mullins. Owner Paddy Kehoe has opted to move the mare to another, as yet, unspecified trainer.
Winner of the Prix Du Cadran at Longchamp in 2020, Princess Zoe’s top class flat form also included finishing runner up in the Ascot Gold Cup the following year. She landed the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot last season.
A novice hurdle career that began last winter yielded mixed results with Kehoe tweeting his unhappiness with how jockey Danny Mullins, the trainer’s son, rode Princess Zoe at the Cheltenham Festival.
He later said he regretted that criticism and described the tweet as a “spur of the moment thing.”
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The fallout from the switch of codes appears to have lingered however and Tony Mullins confirmed on Monday that Princess Zoe has left his yard.
“It’s terribly, terribly disappointing – I will never forget the mare anyway. She is gone to another trainer. Paddy bought out the other shareholder who disagreed with the decision.
“I had a connection with that mare that I don’t think I had with any other horse in my life,” Tony Mullins told Thoroughbred Daily News.
“We’ll have to live with it now. It’s a tough one to take but I’ll never forget her. Paddy was adamant about forging out a hurdling career with her and he thought that Danny didn’t get on with her. I didn’t agree with either thing.
“I thought that, if she came around, there might be another flat race in her. But, for me, persisting at hurdling is not something I could agree with,” he added.
Kehoe confirmed the removal but didn’t elaborate further.
