It's a long way from the Group One Prix Jean Prat at Chantilly on French Derby day to the Tolka Maiden Hurdle at a midweek Fairyhouse but Chateau Royal has managed the journey.

The Aidan O'Brien-trained three-year-old spent the first half of this year consistently in Group company. He may have finished last in that Jean Prat but did finish runner-up in the Gladness Stakes and the Tetrarch Stakes and still has a flat rating of 102.

That puts Chateau Royal in a different league to most of his opposition today in a flat racing sense, but he is starting a new career over hurdles and he may not be the most natural convert to the winter game ever seen.

Chateau Royal gave some glimpses of temperament on the flat, and although Ger Lyons's newcomer, Delirious Tantrum, would be no match for the likely favourite on the flat, it is significant that Paul Carberry rides her in preference to another Lyons horse in the race. Super Sonic Sonia was decent on the flat and comes in the equation too, but in a race where it may pay not to play too big, Delirious Tantrum is jut preferred.

Carberry could also be on the mark in the following maiden hurdle, where he rides Kings Banquet for Noel Meade.

Another rider that can score a double is John Murtagh, clear in the jockeys' championship and about to extend his lead if Hawksbury and Sanchez win their respective maidens.

Sanchez has a length and a half to make up on Brief Decline on August form here but cut in the ground should help the daughter of Wolfhound and the Group One-winning Flamenco Wave; while Hawksbury is marginally selected ahead of Benefits Galore in the Kilmoon Maiden.