RACING NEWS ROUND-UP:NOT ONLY was Al Eile's impressive Aintree Hurdle victory at the weekend a great result for John Queally but it was also greeted with substantial relief by Queally's fellow Co Waterford trainer Henry De Bromhead who still hopes to run Sizing Europe at the Punchestown Festival in two weeks' time.

De Bromhead plans to step up Sizing Europe's work soon with a view to running the spectacular AIG winner in the ACC Bank Champion Hurdle in 16 days' time and reports no problems so far in the horses' recovery from the back injury that scuppered his chances in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham.

After looking a likely winner on the run to the second last at the festival, the hot favourite was all but pulled up by his jockey, Andrew McNamara, on the run in. A sacroiliac problem was diagnosed and Sizing Europe has been receiving treatment for it.

"He's in good form, cantering away and moving well which we're happy about," De Bromhead reported yesterday. "I would love to run him at Punchestown and the way he is going at the moment I don't see any reason why he shouldn't. But he will have to be one hundred per cent and the lady who is treating him will have to be happy."

De Bromhead will also consult with owner Alan Potts before making a late decision on whether to take the opportunity to end the season on a winning note.

But he was delighted on Saturday to see Al Eile, who was eight lengths behind Sizing Europe in the AIG in January, boost that form.

"I had started to worry if we'd only beaten a couple of old horses at Leopardstown and maybe the race wasn't as good as we thought it was at the time. But Al Eile definitely put that to bed," said De Bromhead who added: "Cheltenham was an anti-climax but life goes on: no one died."

A final decision on Punchestown won't be made until after the horse steps up his work next week and probably won't be made at all until just before declaration time.

"We just want to make sure. I had a mare here who had a similar problem and who used to canter away no problem. But she never quickened in her work again like she was able to. Ultimately only a race will tell us for sure," De Bromhead said.

"If he jumps the second last at Punchestown going well then we'll know we're okay. If he doesn't, then I'll have got it wrong again!"

On the flat racing front, Aidan O'Brien could have his first runners of 2008 in France on Sunday where a trio of Group Three classic trials will be run at Longchamp.

The champion trainer has used the Prix de Fontainebleau for colts and the Prix de la Grotte for fillies as warm-up races for the French Guineas in the past and has a number of entries to choose from in both.

Sunday's Leopardstown runner-up Halfway To Heaven is among the Ballydoyle names in the Prix de la Grotte while the Breeders' Cup runner-up, Achill Island, is among the Fontainebleau possibles.

Alessandro Volta, a Listed winner as a two-year-old, is among the O'Brien entries in the Prix la Force which will be run over a mile and a quarter on the same card.

A total of 72 two-year-olds owned by the high-powered Coolmore Stud syndicate, who are in training in Ballydoyle, have been named.

They include a full brother to the double-Derby and double-Breeders' Cup winner High Chaparral called Black Bear Island, and a filly by the world's most expensive stallion, Storm Cat, out of the multiple Group One winner Bosra Sham named Tingling.

O'Brien has yet to have a juvenile runner this season but expects to have his first runners within the next two to three weeks.

His four-time Group One winning filly of last year, Peeping Fawn, remains in training but no firm plans for a return to action are yet in place with O'Brien reporting: "She is back cantering but at the moment we haven't made any plans."

Peeping Fawn hasn't been seen since impressively landing the Yorkshire Oaks in August.