Racing: It now looks likely that just five runners will line up for Sunday's Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Leopardstown.
Arthur Moore confirmed yesterday that the outsider Lyreen Wonder will miss the race while Commanche Court is reportedly an "unlikely" starter.
That leaves the Willie Mullins pair Florida Pearl and Alexander Banquet to take on the English raider Behrajan as well as Sackville and Rince Ri. Moore said yesterday: "I let Lyreen Wonder in just in case some of the better horses came out but they haven't. We'll run him instead in something like the Red Mills at Gowran or the deVere Cup at Haydock."
Moore also confirmed The Gatherer will take his chance in tomorrow's Tote Gold Trophy at Newbury but it looks increasingly likely that Joe Cullen will miss the race.
Yesterday's announcement that tomorrow's scheduled fixture at Naas has been called off means that Leopardstown will be the first meeting in Ireland for 10 days. The meeting was abandoned after an inspection yesterday morning by inspector of courses, Bill McLernon
Yesterday, the Leopardstown racing manager Tom Burke reported he is "very confident" that racing will go ahead on Sunday. "Things are looking pretty good. The clerk of the course Joe Collins came today and said we are perfectly raceable. The forecast is for a good drop of rain on Friday morning but apart from that there is nothing too dramatic on the horizon," Burke said.
That will be good news for the Ferdy Murphy-trained Truckers Tavern who is being shipped to Leopardstown for the Dr PJ Moriarty Novice Chase. "The horse is fine - we wouldn't send him if he wasn't in tip-top form. The jockey who rides him work said he felt spot on to him," Murphy said.
