Carberry set for Sandown

British racegoers will get to see another Carberry in action when 19-year-old Philip Carberry, brother of Grand National-winning…

British racegoers will get to see another Carberry in action when 19-year-old Philip Carberry, brother of Grand National-winning jockey Paul, rides Miss Emer in tomorrow's William Hill Handicap Hurdle at Sandown.

The 7lb claimer has been given the ride on the Noel Meade-trained filly and she will join Meade's other runner in the race, the Norman Williamson partnered Native Dara.

Carberry has already tasted big race success, having been on Lanturn who won the Kerry National at Listowel last September. Miss Emer is a 12 to 1 shot for the big Sandown handicap with the bookmakers behind the warm Martin Pipe-trained favourite Rodock.

One Irish horse who will miss the William Hill Hurdle, however, is the Arthur Moore-trained The Gatherer.

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In other news yesterday the Gold Cup winner See More Business was given an entry in Leopardstown's Ericsson Chase but trainer Paul Nicholls insisted it will only be taken up if something goes wrong with Kempton's King George fixture.

"If the ground came up really testing at Kempton and was good at Leopardstown then I would consider running See More Business in Ireland. I have also entered Escartefigue and he could run at Leopardstown if the ground was testing," said Nicholls.

Meanwhile, the Irish Horseracing Authority yesterday announced initiatives which will see the total prizemoney fund in 2000 reach £25 million. That is almost £4.5 million up on 1999. The authority also said it will increase its own contribution by 30 per cent to £12.2 million. It was also announced that from January the base value of any race will be £5,000.

The IHA have also confirmed that Denis Brosnan, chairman of the body since it started in 1994, has been reappointed to the position by the Minister for Agriculture. New board members of the IHA are Jessica Harrington (trainers) and the breeders' representatives Dermot Cantillon and Bob Lanigan.

Jump jockeys Brian Harding and Liam Cooper both missed rides at Market Rasen yesterday after being involved in a car crash, but both were uninjured.

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor is the racing correspondent of The Irish Times. He also writes the Tipping Point column