CHELTENHAM COUNTDOWN:WILLIE MULLINS has given himself the option of allowing Quevega – one of the hottest ante-post favourites for next month's Cheltenham Festival – a warm-up at Gowran this Saturday.

The ex-French star is one of 10 entries for the €50,000 Red Mills Trial Hurdle, a Grade Two contest won by Solwhit last year and by Hardy Eustace prior to his Champion Hurdle success in 2005.

Quevega was third to Solwhit in the Punchestown Champion Hurdle last year and is currently still among the entries for the Champion Hurdle itself at Cheltenham.

However, an attempt at back-to-back wins in the David Nicholson Mares Hurdle on the same day remains the target for the Mullins-trained runner who is an 11 to 8 shot to repeat her 14-length festival triumph in 2009. “I’m happy with her. I was planning to go straight to Cheltenham but I’ve stuck her in just to see how things shape up,” Mullins said yesterday.

Also in the race is the Grade One winner Jumbo Rio as well as the 2007 winner Newmill who also holds an entry in the Red Mills Chase on the same card.

Glenfinn Captain, winner of the two-and-a-half-mile chase last year, and the 2007 victor Watson Lake are also among the 14 entries for that event, as is the Grade 0ne-winning novice Rare Bob, who is among the 100 to 1 outsiders for the Gold Cup.

Willie Mullins has a strong hand with the Normans Grove winner Scotsirish alongside Snowy Morning and Deutschland who hasn’t been seen since last September. “We will look at how they do in their work during the week before deciding,” the champion trainer said yesterday before giving Cooldine a clean bill-of-health after his second to Joncol in Sunday’s Hennessy.

Dunguib was reported as “sound as a pound” by his trainer Philip Fenton after a spectacular Deloitte display that leaves him a best-priced evens favourite for the Supreme at Cheltenham. “He won’t have a saddle on his back for 10 days, he will have a complete break,” Fenton said yesterday.

“He may have knocked every hurdle but there’s not a scratch on him,” he added. “It was ideal, apart from his jumping. It was so important he didn’t have a hard race.”