RACING:MICHAEL O'LEARY can secure the main slice of today's €100,000 prize-money for the Ryanair Chase if First Lieutenant makes light of the drop back to two miles.
The Ryanair boss will relish the thought of picking up his own sponsorship cash since races sponsored by the company he runs have remained frustratingly elusive to the Gigginstown Stud team.
Mossbank’s second to Our Vic in the Cheltenham Ryanair of 2008 is the nearest O’Leary has got to winning that prize, and War Of Attrition was a late switch to the Gold Cup in the first year of the sponsorship, a call that didn’t work out too shabbily.
Ryanair took over the sponsorship of today’s main support event in 2010 and the common denominator since then has been a rather martial factor, with both Captain Cee Bee and Captain Chris emerging best.
First Lieutenant might be a demotion in rank but hardly in merit if he beats the half-dozen opponents scheduled to meet him today.
He already is among the leading contenders in ante-post betting for next year’s Gold Cup on the back of a fine RSA effort at Cheltenham when finding only Bob’s Worth too good after travelling almost too well through the race.
This is a very different assignment, on very different ground, but it’s worth remembering that First Lieutenant was a Grade One winner over hurdles on heavy ground.
Menorah is the clear pick of the two English challengers on his best form, which came a couple of weeks ago at Liverpool when landing a Grade One.
The former top-class hurdler has taken his time getting the hang of things over fences but he looked well suited to decent ground at Aintree, something he isn’t going to get today.
Whoever finishes the extended four miles of the Avon Ri La Touche Cup will deserve plaudits, never mind who wins it. There certainly won’t be many short-cuts but experience will count for a lot and nobody brings more of that to the La Touche than Enda Bolger and Nina Carberry.
Their representative, Arabella Boy, is conspicuously short of race experience but he is sure to have been well schooled over banks at Bolger’s Co Limerick establishment. The ground, though, will be a crucial factor and in these circumstances the dour-staying Inoma James could be an each-way option.
Bolger also runs Doctor Pat, while Willie Mullins’s topweight Uncle Junior is on a retrieval mission after disappointing at Cheltenham.
JP McManus looks likely to have a big influence on the first two races today and there will be plenty of interest in Nicky Henderson’s Nelson’s Bridge, who contests the opening conditions hurdle on the back of losing his unbeaten record behind Simonsig at Cheltenham.
McManus also has At Fishers Cross in the race, though, and it’s noticeable how good the ex-Irish-based horse was on heavy ground in bumpers before getting beaten over hurdles at Ffos Llas last time.
McManus’s Senior Again lurks at the bottom of the ratings in the two-mile handicap chase and shouldn’t have too many problems with the going based on his Leopardstown defeat of Uncle Tom Cobley last January.
Henry De Bromhead’s festival has already been successful with Sizing Europe and his Buckers Bridge looks an interesting contender in the finale considering he has won both a bumper and a point to point on heavy ground.
Novarov has had a consistent season to date and is preferred to Seventy Three in the three-mile handicap hurdle, which is sure to also turn into a real grueller.
