Racing: Weeks of speculation finally ended yesterday with confirmation that Paul Carberry will ride Beef Or Salmon in Sunday's Hennessy Gold Cup and also crucially in next month's Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The horse's regular jockey Timmy Murphy spoke to Beef Or Salmon's owners, Joe Craig and Dan McLernon, yesterday but due to his contract with the leading British owner, David Johnson, he was unable to give a commitment to being able to ride the horse in the Gold Cup.
Celestial Gold is one of a number of Johnson-owned Gold Cup hopes and although Murphy is free to ride at Leopardstown on Sunday he is likely to be claimed at the festival.
"The owners spoke to him and he couldn't give a commitment for the Gold Cup. The owners felt for the sake of the horse and everyone else they had to have a commitment so Paul Carberry will ride at the weekend and at Cheltenham," said Beef Or Salmon's trainer Michael Hourigan yesterday.
Carberry has a 100 per cent record on Beef Or Salmon, winning on him on his chasing debut and also in the Lexus Chase at Christmas when Murphy's commitments to Johnson prevented him from travelling to Leopardstown.
Hourigan, however, was at pain yesterday to stress that Murphy's link with the horse is far from over.
"If for any reason Paul cannot ride, and Timmy is available, then he will be on Beef Or Salmon," he said. "They are both top class jockeys so it makes no difference to me. But this has all been agreed between the owners, Timmy and myself. I would like to stress that."
Beef Or Salmon is a clear second best behind Best Mate in ante-post betting for Cheltenham but is a red-hot favourite for Sunday with Cashmans making him a 4 to 9 favourite to repeat his 2003 triumph.
Other jockey arrangements for the big race at the weekend include the booking of Davy Russell for the Charles Byrnes- trained Cloudy Bays, a move that lets open the ride on the Edward O'Grady-trained Pizarro.
One definite jockey booking is that of Mick Fitzgerald who will team up with the Deloitte Novice Hurdle favourite Royal Paradise for the first time since the pair won their maiden together at Roscommon in October.
In his three starts since then, the Tom Foley-trained horse has been ridden by Conor O'Dwyer but Fitzgerald is back in the saddle on Sunday for Royal Paradise's final Cheltenham warm-up.
"Mick was the jockey we picked from the word go but he wasn't available some days. Once he was claimed by Nicky Henderson for two horses owned by the Queen. If they were owned by anyone else, Mick would probably have got off," Foley said yesterday.
"We told Conor we would use him when Mick wasn't available and he's been lucky enough to get three spins off him."
The last of those was an impressive success at Leopardstown over Christmas after which Foley said he was unlikely to run Royal Paradise again before the festival.
"It's a valuable race on Sunday and he's ready to run. If we went straight to Cheltenham we might risk something going wrong and not running again this season," the trainer reasoned. "We should get a good pace on Sunday but after the way he won from the front the last day I'm not too worried. It will tell us a lot," he added.
The Grade Two Cashmans Juvenile Hurdle has been a major Triumph Hurdle trial in recent years and Arch Rebel has been installed a 6 to 4 favourite with the sponsors to follow up his impressive Christmas debut.
Ground conditions at Leopardstown ahead of Sunday's big card remain officially "yielding to soft" with little change expected by the weekend.
Rule Supreme's Hennessy jockey David Casey returns to action after almost three months on the sidelines at Clonmel today and could immediately hit the winners spot with Ground Ball in the conditions chase.
Casey is also on the Down Royal bumper winner Teeming Rain in the second maiden hurdle but his race looks good for Kill Devil Hill who chased the subsequent Grade Three winner Washington Lad to two lengths at Fairyhouse.
BETTING: (Cashmans): 4-9 Beef Or Salmon, 9-2 Pizarro, 6 Rule Supreme, 8 Murphy's Cardinal, 20 Cloudy Bays, 50 Jack High, 66 Hersov.
