REST OF FAIRYHOUSE PREVIEW:AN TAOISEACH Brian Cowen is due to present the trophies to today's Irish National winners but he can earlier be at the receiving end if Donnas Palm wins the Grade Three Hurdle.
Cowen is one of the Grand Alliance Racing Club, a cross-party syndicate that has enjoyed high-profile success in the past and now has a genuinely high-class runner.
Donnas Palm has a 161 rating on the back of finishing runner-up to Solwhit in the Irish Champion Hurdle last January and he is also proven at the two and a half miles of today’s Ladbrokes Hurdle having won at the trip at Navan.
The grey has just five opponents this afternoon including his stable companion, Aitmatov, and the former Coral Cup winner, Ninetieth Minute.
However, his main rival should be Mourad who missed out on Cheltenham but chased home War Of Attrition before that. Willie Mullins has won this race for the last three years, but Donnas Palm is well in at the conditions and is hard to oppose.
The Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary is going all out to win the race he sponsors, the Gigginstown Stud Point-To-Point Championship, with three of the 12 runners carrying his colours.
Robbie McNamara is on Paul Nolan’s Zagman, who won his only point start in good style at Maralin in the North Of Ireland.
Willie Mullins drops his former bumper champion Cousin Vinny back to two miles for the opening conditions hurdle after finishing 20 lengths behind Bib Buck’s in the World Hurdle at Cheltenham.
That came after an anti-climactic novice chasing season and victory today would be a welcome confidence boost after such an interrupted campaign.
Cousin Vinny, however, will have to beat Head Of The Posse who returned to action with an encouraging run behind Won In The Dark at Leopardstown and who should improve significantly for that.
Mullins puts Kerb Appeal into handicap company in the following hurdle after the five-year-old ran third in a Grade Two at Thurles behind Western Leader.
The extra distance could help Kerb Appeal who will also be right at home on the ground.
Today’s other fixture at Cork is a reduced six-race card with the emphasis very much on point-to-point products although By The Hour should take a bit of beating in the qualified riders Beginners Chase after finishing runner-up at Thurles on his last start.
