WITH Viking Flagship retired for the season and his recent Cheltenham conqueror Gales Cavalier also set for his summer holiday, Uncle Ernie may be the only English trained runner in next Tuesday's £50,000 BMW Handicap Chase, though there is a chance Sound Reveille will travel.
More rain is on the way and it now appears the ground will not be fast for the three day Festival. This will suit the Fairyhouse winner Uncle Ernie. Klairon Davis, the reigning two mile champion and a disappointing fourth behind Viking Flagship at Aintree, is set to concede a lot of weight to Uncle Ernie but will be better suited to this two mile trip than the two and a half miles of the Mumm Melling Chase.
The absence of Elegant Lord opens up today's Tetratema Hunters Chase at Gowran Park. Our leading hunter chaser merely toyed with Harry de Bromhead's charge when winning the Joseph O'Reilly at Fairyhouse but Corymandel had run well to the last fence and had earlier won by six lengths at Downpatrick.
Aiguille also won at Downpatrick and followed up that with a three length success at Tipperary. But the Francis Hood trained Credit Transfer, a 20 length winner at Wexford last year and then successful in the Tetratema Cup, looks the likely winner on her run at Leopardstown in February when she divided Elegant Lord and Kerry Orchid. Flood has prospects of a double with his 20 length Listowel bumpers winner Bai-Brun Kate in the Thomastown Maiden Hurdle.
Majestic Paddy battled well to hold, by a neck, the challenge of Dawn Alert to win a maiden hurdle at Naas last month. The subsequent Fairyhouse win of Dawn Alert gives Peter McCreery's charge an obvious chance in the Kilkenny Handicap Hurdle. However, he may not beat the top weight Scobie Boy who ran better in the Vincent O'Brien County Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham than his final placing would suggest. Earlier Scobie Boy finished second behind the 19lb receiving Mayasta in a handicap hurdle at Naas.
Slaney Peace showed courage in beating Professor Strong and Twin Rainbow in a battling finish to an extended three mile handicap chase at Fairyhouse and may now follow up in the Bagenalstown Handicap Chase. He receives more than two stone from Topical Tip.
Dermot Weld appears to have his charges in good early season form and Tilbrook, fifth in the Madrid Handicap at the Curragh, will be backed for the Bennettsbridge Handicap. The choice is the locally trained Rizzoli, an own brother to the Anglesea Stakes winner Malvernico who may be suited to some ease in the ground.
Stable companion Park Petard had some useful early season form last year but may not beat Bicycle Thief in the Gowran Maiden. Charles O'Brien's charge was apprentice ridden when staying on well to finish fifth in a big field of maidens at the Curragh. Aidan O'Brien may win both divisions of the Mount Leinster Flat Race with Holly's Pride and Sovereign Grit.
