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Morgiana Hurdle promises first major clash.

Last season's top novice hurdler Hurrican Fly ended his unbeaten season with a scintillating performance at the Punchestown Festival, while Solwit ended the season with Grade 1 victories at Aintree and Punchestown, and in the latter contest he relegated Cheltenham Champion Hurdler Punjabi to the runners up spot. Now the two outstanding hurdlers are due to have a head to head clash in Sunday's Dobbin and Madigans at Punchestown Morgiana Hurdle, and while all eyes will be on the principal runners, the current supporting cast of seven are not bad in their own right.

Donnas Palm has already combined a Listed Hurdle win with a second spot in Leopardstown's November Handicap on the flat, and Noel Meade could also be represented by stable mate Muirhead - a useful novice hurdler in his first season, and now reported to be much stronger prior to his new campaign.

Edward O'Grady has been in great form of late, and Jumbo Rio could have taken an alternative engagement in France.

The remainder of the Irish contingent is made up with Clopf, De Valira, and 2007 Cheltenham Champion Hurdler Sublimity. While Donald McCain's Whiteoak is the sole British representative amongst the nine horses standing their ground at today's five day stage.

Top class mixed bag for Hattons Grace Hurdle.

David Pipe's recent Listed Chepstow winner Mr Thriller is amongst fourteen entries for the Bar One Racing Hattons Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse on 29 November. Although the four-year-old would get an allowance off his rivals, it could be a hard task to land the Grade 1 contest, particularly as current rivals include; former dual Champion Hurdler Hardy Eustace, 2009 Supreme Novice Hurdle winner Go Native, and former stable mate and recent steeplechase winner Osana.

Keeping his options open, David Pipe said,

"Mr Thriller has an entry in the Hattons Grace, but I still need to speak to connections before we make any hard and fast decisions."

Noseda confirms Spirit will appear in 2010.

Despite putting in a below par performance in Saturday's Breeders Cup Sprint, connections of the lightly raced Fleeting Spirit seem confident she still has plenty to offer in the highest level sprinting contests in Europe, and today, trainer Jeremy Noseda confirmed the filly will remain in training for the 2010 flat season.

Clonmel announce early inspection.

Already confirming 'heavy' underfoot conditions, Clonmel racecourse has confirmed it will hold a precautionary inspection at 2.00 pm on Wednesday, and will take a view at that time as to whether Thursday's proposed card can go ahead as planned.

Telicki to become stable jockey for Jeremy Glover.

This year's Champion Apprentice Jockey Frederick Telicki has agreed to become stable jockey for Jeremy Glover during the 2010 flat season. A very experienced trainer in his own right, Glover came out of retirement in July to take over owner Paul Dixon's yard after Alan McCabe decided to go off on his own.

Speaking to the Guardian about the appointment, Glover said,

"He is a very bright young man with plenty of bottle, and he rides using his head, and Mr Dixon and I believe he will be a great asset to our yard."

Denman guest of honour at Exeter.

Three years ago, Denman won his first ever steeplechase at Exeter's Haldon Hill course. As we now know, he later went on to destroy his field in the 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup, but today he will return to Exeter as the celebrity guest of the racecourse management. For the West Country venue has just completed a 2.2 million pound extension to their facilities, and having named the extension in honour of Denman, course officials thought it appropriate the top class steeplechaser be on hand to give the extension his 'personal vote of approval'.

Accompanied by owners Harry Findlay and Paul Barber, Denman will go through his paces during racing, and if rumours about Denman's current form are to be believed, the attending crowd could be catching an early glimpse of this year's Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup winner.

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To the obvious delight of trainer Paul Nicholls, Denman completed a full circuit cantor with stable mate beshabar prior to racing at Exeter, and as he quickened in the latter stages, many judges thought they saw glimmpses of the Denman of old - If so, we could soon be looking forward to another titanic battle with stable mate Kauto Star in next March's Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Pettifour to make chasing debut.

Despite finishing a somewhat distant second in the recent Grade 2 Wetherby Hurdle, Nigel Twiston Davies believes former Grade 1 winning hurdler Pettifour will prove to be a major player in this year's novice chasing campaign, and the trainer says he is looking forward to watching his experienced hurdler take to the larger obstacles in Saturday's Ultima front runner in it's solutions Novice Chase at Cheltenham's Open Meeting.

Tizzard hoping for handicap reprieve for Joe.

Colin Tizzard was not too disappointed with Joe Lively's fifth place in Saturday's jnwin.com Champion Chase at Down Royal, but he does confess he would like the handicapper to cut his charge a bit of slack,

"He is currently rated 165, and that limits our options to higher grade races, where quite honestly, he finds it tough. If the handicapper would realise he is not quite up to the highest level, and would reduce him a few pounds, he would have a genuine chance in some lower grade races. But until that happens, I suppose we will just have to persevere."

Big Zeb option ground dependant.

Wexford based trainer Colm Murphy has confirmed his recent Navan winner Big Zeb now has entries in both the Tingle Creek and John Durkan Chases, but his eventual destination will be determined by which venue can offer the eight-year-old good jumping ground. Commenting further, Murphy said,

"He did well to win in the soft ground at Navan, and if he is to take on the best steeplechasers it is essential he gets good ground. He now has entries in the two races which offer him the next best options for the current season, but we will not decide in which race he will compete until we know the ground conditions, and this means our decision is likely to come very near to the race."

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