WILLIE MULLINS believes he has his best team ever with Hurricane Fly and Cooldine among the leading lights for the season.

The County Carlow trainer thinks it will be a few weeks before his team really start flying, but he is gearing Hurricane Fly up for a tilt at the Champion Hurdle at next March’s Cheltenham Festival.

The son of Montjeu had a great novice season last year winning three times in Grade One company. But then the five-year-old was forced to miss the Cheltenham Festival due to a setback.

Mullins is looking to give Hurricane Fly some experience of Prestbury Park before the Champion Hurdle, for which he is generally the 3-1 favourite with most bookmakers. At a media day at his Bagnelstown base yesterday, Mullins said: “Hurricane Fly is in great form and seems a lot stronger than he was last season.

“The plan is to go to Punchestown with him for the Morgiana Hurdle (November 15). That looks a good place to start off as he’s won at the track before and I think it’s nice to go somewhere they know.

“I know Binocular and Solwhit have been mentioned for the race and of course you are always worried about the opposition.

“We probably have 10lb to find with those horses at the minute, so it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he was beaten there.

“I’ll have him ready enough to run but at least if he’s beaten and is running on at the end, we have the whole season to progress.

“After that, there is a good chance we could go over to Cheltenham with him for one of those races, as long as it all fits in well.

“It’s not that I have any worries with him travelling as he’s been to France before with no problems, but it’s nice to go there and do it on the pitch (Cheltenham).

“I’m not sure what race he would go for just yet, but the trip wouldn’t be a problem for him.

“You would hope he’ll be a Champion Hurdle horse, but we’ll just have to see how it goes.”

Mullins is also confident that last season’s RSA Chase winner Cooldine is capable of bridging the gap from being a top novice into Cheltenham Gold Cup contender before next spring.

The seven-year-old was an impressive winner at the Cheltenham Festival when landing the RSA Chase by 16 lengths.

Cooldine is a best-priced 12-1 with Victor Chandler for the Gold Cup behind Sportingbet’s 2-1 favourite and dual winner Kauto Star.

Mullins knows Cooldine will have to continue his improvement to trouble Nicholls’ Gold Cup hero Kauto Star and stable-mate Denman. But he thinks he is capable and could face Kauto Star in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day.

Grand National-winning trainer Mullins said: “Cooldine is in great order and is just one of those horses that has continued to improve with racing.

“At the moment we’re looking to start him off in the John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown and then we’ll be looking at something over Christmas with him.

“The Lexus would be an obvious target but that has not been the luckiest race for us over the years and we might just have a look at the King George for him.

“I prefer not to travel over to England with horses early in the season and will stay at home with them if possible, but if the right race comes up, then we will go.

“That could be the case with the King George and Cooldine and while the track might not be ideal, it will do him good to get jumping at pace round there.

“He probably needs to improve another 8lb or 10lb to challenge the best of them but he could just do that as he just seems to get be getting better all the time.

“He has all the qualities you need as he stays well and is as tough as they come, so he could just make the grade for a Gold Cup.”

Meanwhile dual Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Master Minded is on course to make his seasonal return at Cheltenham.

Trainer Nicholls is looking at the Connaught Chase on November 15 as the prep race for the ace two-miler ahead of the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown on December 5.