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Boston's Angel fine ahead of Hennessy.
After today’s decleration stage, ten horses remain in the running for what is shaping up to be an excellent renewal of the Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown on Sunday.
With Bostons Angel, Quito De La Roque, Quel Esprit and Synchronised all still declared, the Grade One staying test looks set to be a high class race.
According to his trainer, last season’s RSA Chase winner Boston’s Angel is an intended starter, with his trainer Jessica Harrington, commenting:
“He seems to be fine. He worked last week and I was happy with him and the plan is to run at the weekend. He disappointed me at Sandown and before that he came down at an early stage in the Nicholson Chase on his first run of the season. He just wasn’t right, so we had to skip the Lexus Chase, but he is fine again now and we’ll try him with cheek pieces or blinkers on Sunday.”
Quito De La Roque also remains on course to line up in Sunday’s Grade 1contest. The eight year old disappointed connections at Christmas time, when third in the Lexus Chase, but his trainer Colm Murphy is hoping for a better performance at the weekend and said:
“He seems to be well in himself and we are looking forward to it. I don’t know what happened to him the last day - maybe he had a harder race than we thought he had when he won the Nicholson Chase at Down Royal.
“ The ground will be fine for him – he has won on everything.”
Willie Mullins will be represented by the current 5-2 favourite Quel Esprit as he attempts to win the Hennessy Gold Cup for the eighth time, while Gordon Elliot has indicated that Jessies Dream will line up in Sunday’s contest.
Elsewhere on Sunday’s card, Gordon Elliott could be double handed in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle with His Excellency and Face Value while Willie Mullins is expected to run the unbeaten Ut De Sivola.
Last Instalment bids to maintain his unbeaten record over the larger obstacles, when he lines up in the Grade 1 Dr PJ Moriarty Novice Chase. The seven year old has yet to put a foot wrong in three starts over fences and Philip Fenton said,
“We’ve been happy with him since he ran at Christmas. The ground was fairly good the last day and I see that it has dried out a bit at Leopardstown over the last few days, but that isn’t a worry. The plan is that he’ll run and he seems to be in great shape.”
Henderson adds Captain to Deloitte field.
Having missed out on a postponed run last weekend, Captain Conan, successful in the Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown last month, has been supplemented for Sunday’s Grade 1 Deloitte Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown.
Discussing his charge, Nicky Henderson said:
“He worked very well this morning, and when I spoke to Barry Geraghty, he said why not give it a go, so the plan is to run.
“He is a lovely big horse and he is a real chaser in the making, but there is nothing coming up for him over here so I supplemented him and we’ll see how he gets on. We could run him in an ordinary race with a Grade 1 penalty and not find out a great deal, so we’ll let him take his chance and that will tell where he’ll go for the rest of the season. He is a great big horse and he has already won a Grade 1 at home, so it will be interesting to see how he fares against some of the best novice hurdlers in Ireland.”
Captain Conan faces no easy task, as Willie Mullins has left in Grade 1 winner Sous Les Cieux, along with stable companions Midnight Game and Terminal. Cash And Go, successful in a Grade 1 at Leopardstown over Christmas, has been left in at today’s forfeit stage by Edward O’Grady.
Doncaster Abandon Thursday Meeting.
Doncaster has joined the growing list of abandoned national hunt meetings after the course was deemed unraceable at today's 2.00 pm inspection.
The Town Moor circuit currently has a covering of snow on top of a frozen track, and with temperatures tonight and on wednesday due to be sub-zero most of the time, course officials were left with no option but to call an early abandonment of Thursday's national hunt card.
Huntingdon not holding out much hope.
Huntingdon's scheduled national hunt meeting on Thursday is subject to an 8.00 am inspection on Wednesday morning, but with a covering of snow still lieing on top of a frozen track, and with sub-zero temperatures forecast for tonight, course officials are not holding out much hope that their track will pass muster tomorrow morning.
Extra National Hunt Card For Musselburgh.
Musselburgh Racecourse has been granted an extra fixture on Saturday (11 February, after it was forced to abandon last weekend’s £90,000 feature Cheltenham Trials jumps meeting due to frost.
The East Lothian track will rerun its John Smith’s Scottish Cheltenham Trials meeting after the British Horseracing Authority approved an application to hold an extra fixture.
With tomorrow’s (Wednesday) meetings at Carlisle, Lingfield and Ludlow abandoned and inspections planned for Doncaster and Huntingdon’s Thursday meetings, Musselburgh will take centre stage for hard pressed trainers and owners desperate to field potential runners for the Cheltenham and Aintree festivals.
The weather forecast for Scotland appears better than for other parts of the UK this coming week, and course officials are relatively optimistic that Saturday’s new meeting will go ahead.
Musselburgh Racecourse general manager, Bill Farnsworth, said:
“We are delighted to get the green light from the British Horseracing Authority to stage this extra fixture, and this decision will be welcomed across the racing industry.
“With numerous fixtures being disrupted across the country there is dire lack of opportunities for trainers and owners to field their favoured horses for Cheltenham and Aintree. I am sure this will be reflected in the quality and number of entries we receive for Saturday’s meeting which will provide the ideal preparation for many horses destined for greater things.”
Provisional Bumper Card Set For Kempton This Friday.
Following recent abandonments and with the current cold snap threatening Kempton’s Jump fixture on Friday, February 10, the British Horseracing Authority has programmed a provisional card of Jumpers’ Bumpers to take place in the event that the Turf fixture is abandoned.
The seven race card will be made up of five events primarily aimed at Steeple Chasers and Hurdlers, plus two Standard Open National Hunt Flat races.
Ordinarily, under the Rules of Racing, horses which have run in Steeple Chases or Hurdle Races are not eligible to run in National Hunt Flat races, but given the recent disruption to the fixture list, the British Horseracing Authority has modified the Rules with regard to this fixture.
The track will be power harrowed to produce ‘standard to slow’ conditions, with the aim of broadly replicating turf conditions described as the ‘slow side of good’.
The races close for entries at noon today, February 07, with declarations to run to be made by 10.00am on Thursday, February 09.
Bog could appear at Naas.
The highly regarded young chaser Bog Warrior could make his return to racing action in the BBA Ireland Limited Opera Hat Novices Chase at Naas this coming Saturday.
The Tony Martin-trained eight-year-old has some fine early season form, having beaten subsequent Arkle Chase winner Fleminstar on his seasonal debut at Navan, before going on to land victory in the Grade One Drinmore Chase at Fairyhouse.
Bog Warrior was also going well when taking a heavy fall at Leopardstown over Christmas, and while that incident held up his preparation for a while, Tony Martin is looking forward to seeing his young chaser back in action this coming weekend, with the handler commenting to ATR:
“I’m very excited about getting him back to the races, and hopefully he should be in action this weekend.
“I’m very pleased with him. He’s done a lot of schooling, and he’s been working away soundly.
“Our other horse Gift of D’Gab ran into the back of him and brought him down at Leopardstown, and he got a blow to his head in that incident. We then went easy with him for a couple of weeks, and he seems perfect now.
“He’s a very good horse at home, and he likes to get on with it and get it done, but he’s still a very inexperienced horse.”
Bog Warrior has entries in most of the major novice chases at next month’s Cheltenham Festival, but Martin will not make any concrete decisions until after this weekend’s outing, with Martin adding:
“I’ve got no set plans. He’s a very adaptable horse, he’s won over 2 miles, and two and a half miles, and I think he’ll get a lot further. He’s got plenty of entries at Cheltenham, and all options are open.”
Synchronised decision on hold.
With the current cold snap having interfered in training plans, the connections of Synchronised have decided to delay a final decision on whether their charge runs in Sunday's Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown, with a final decision now likely on Thursday.
Trainer Jonjo O'Neill has concerns that his nine-year-old has taken a long time to recover from his exertions when winning the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown over Christmas, with O'Neill commenting last week that he thought the Hennessy may come too soon.
However, speaking on behalf of owner J P McManus today, Racing Manager Frank Berry said:
"The weather is holding things up a bit at the moment, but he seems fine, and hopefully we should know where we are by Thursday.
"We just haven't been able to get that last bit of work into him because of the frost and snow, but touch wood, he seems in good form."
Al considered close to Gold standard.
Trainer Donald McCain feels a race fit Weird Al will have a good chance in next month’s Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Formerly with Ian Williams prior to the current season, the gelding made the perfect start for his new yard, taking a clear cut victory in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby, and then coming home third behind Kauto Star and Long Run in the Betfair Chase at Haydock in November.
Quickly realising his relatively new charge appears at his best when fresh, McCain has sensibly kept Weird Al ticking over with the Cheltenham Gold Cup in mind, and the Cheshire handler feels Weird Al has the ability to go close in next month’s Cheltenham chasing highlight, with McCain telling ATR:
“I think he has a very solid each-way chance based on his run in the Charlie Hall.
“He also ran a good race at Haydock, but Timmy Murphy felt in that race he was still feeling the effects of his run at Wetherby.
“He’s a young improving horse who likes Cheltenham, and it’s all about getting him there fit and well on the day, but after Wetherby, we now know we can get him fit for a specific day, and there’s no reason why he shouldn’t run into the money in the Gold Cup.
“I know how much Ian thought of him, but I wasn’t convinced until I started to train him myself, but he’s a proper horse.”
Henderson Spies Victor Chandler Morebattle Hurdle for Binocular.
Since bookmakers Victor Chandler took over sponsorship in 2010, the Victor Chandler Morebattle Hurdle, run at Kelso, has attracted some of the best Champion Hurdle contenders of recent times- the Border track has been graced by the presence of Triumph hurdle winner Zaynar, followed up in 2011 by the outstanding Peddlers Cross, who came so gallantly close to defeating the brilliant Hurricane Fly in the Cheltenham Champion Hurdle last March.
This years renewal could now be no less exhilarating with the prospect of the J P McManus owned Binocular visiting the Border Track for the Victor Chandler Morebattle Hurdle on Wednesday 15 February.
After the abandonment of Binoculars’ intended Sandown target over the weekend, trainer Nicky Henderson suggested three possible alternatives for the 2010 Champion Hurdle winner to complete his Cheltenham preparation - The Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso, The Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton, or a trip to Gowran Park in Ireland.
In anticipation of Nicky Henderson selecting Kelso's highlight for Binocular, Kelso racecourse Managing Director Richard Landale, commented:
“The Prospect of Binocular running in the Victor Chandler Morebattle Hurdle is extremely exciting. Donald McCain used the race as a prep for Peddlers Cross last year and he ran a cracker in the Champion Hurdle - so the timing of the race works perfectly for Cheltenham.”
Potential opposition to Binocular in the Morebattle may come from Tap Night, owned by Peter Buchanan’s sister Jane. Tap Night has been impressive in back-to-back wins at Carlisle and Newcastle with connections eyeing this as a possible hat-trick target. While Simply Ned is unbeaten in three starts over hurdles this season and Nicky Richards is looking to add this prestigious contest to the tally for his highly-rated Greystoke based youngster.
Carlisle and Ludlow join Lingfield.
After Lingfield yesterday cancelled their national hunt card scheduled to take place on Wednesday afternoon, Carlisle and Ludlow this morning both joined Wednesday's cancellation list, - the two tracks failing to pass early morning inspections due to each being found to be frozen solid.
Nicholls holding fast on Hold Fast decision.
With the proviso - weather conditions relent sufficiently to allow this weekend’s Betfair Meeting at Newbury to go ahead – Paul Nicholls hopes after Saturday’s Betfair Super Saturday Chase, he will have a concrete guide as to which race he will choose for Hold Fast at next month’s Cheltenham Festival.
Owned by Graham Wiley, and formerly trained by Howard Johnson, the gelding was beaten on his first run for Nicholls at Newbury last November, but last month, Hold Fast was very impressive when scoring in a competitive handicap at Sandown, and on the back of that run, the eight-year-old was given a speculative entry in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at next month’s Cheltenham Festival.
However, connections still have to decide if Hold Fast is good enough to run in Grade One company, and this Saturday’s Grade Two contest – formerly known as the Game Spirit Chase – should provide the necessary answers as to Hold Fast’s level of ability.
Analysing the current situation, Paul Nicholls said:
“It looks like being a competitive race this weekend, but he hosed up at Sandown, and we want to run him at Newbury to see where we are with him.
“He’s entered for the Champion Chase and for the Grand Annual Chase at Cheltenham, and I suspect we’ll end up going down the handicap route, but we’ll see what happens on Saturday.”
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