Racing: It's been 10 years since a horse trained across the Irish Sea has won the Hennessy Gold Cup, but Murphy's Cardinal is guaranteed to provide an overseas threat to Beef Or Salmon in Sunday's highlight. Brian O'Connor reports.
Noel Chance confirmed yesterday that the Cheltenham Gold Cup outsider will be left in the big race at this morning's forfeit stage and is set to travel to Leopardstown.
"The plan some time ago had been to run in the Pillar Chase at Cheltenham and we left him in the Hennessy as a precaution," said the Dublin-born trainer yesterday. "It's lucky we did, as he wrapped a joint and missed a few days work which would have meant he would have been slightly under-cooked for the Pillar."
Strong Flow and Chives are other British-based horses among the 10 still left in, but Murphy's Cardinal remains the most likely traveller to try to emulate Jodami in 1995 when he won the last of his three Hennessys.
The 2003 hero, Beef Or Salmon, remains a red-hot ante-post favourite to follow up his course and distance win in the Lexus at Christmas, but Chance, for one, insists he is not after place money alone.
"Naturally I would like the race to cut up, but he is not going just because it might. It's a good race in its own right and it will let us know where we stand with the horse. It should be very informative," he said.
Murphy's Cardinal, a wide margin winner of a Grade Three Chase at Down Royal in November, is a general 50 to 1 shot for the Gold Cup and will be ridden at the weekend by Tom Doyle.
There was no such confirmation about who will ride Beef Or Salmon in the Hennessy, with Michael Hourigan biding his time a little longer.
The Limerick trainer spoke to Beef Or Salmon's regular rider, Timmy Murphy, at the weekend, but no decision has been made about whether Paul Carberry, who deputised in the Lexus, will retain the mount.
The ground at Leopardstown is currently "yielding to soft", with little substantial change expected by Sunday.
"It's forecast to stay mainly dry up to and including Wednesday with maybe a little rain expected on Thursday. After that it's supposed to get colder," said Leopardstown's racing manager, Tom Burke. "At face value you wouldn't expect things to change much, but at this stage it is difficult to be precise."
Forfeits will also be made today for Sunday's other Grade One highlights, the PJ Moriarty Chase and the Deloitte Novice Hurdle.
Seventeen entries have been left in Saturday's BBA Ireland Opera Hat Novice Chase and War Of Attrition remains on course to try to get his Cheltenham plans back on track.
Other news yesterday included confirmation that the Curragh chairman, Michael Osborne, has been elected as chairman of the World Racing Championships. Osborne (70), takes over from the American James E Bassett, who described the former senior steward as "Ireland's most prominent figure in thoroughbred racing".
The first race in the 2005 championship will be the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Hong Kong on April 25th. The Irish leg will be the Baileys Irish Champion Stakes in September.
Martin Pipe revealed yesterday that Well Chief, the Victor Chandler Chase winner, would be entered for the totescoop6 Game Spirit Chase at Newbury on February 12th.
