Davy Russell gets nod for Balko Des Flos as he chases first Plate win

On Friday the Ryanair boss fired Bryan Cooper as his retained rider and it is Gigginstown Stud's former No.1, Davy Russell, who rides Balko Des Flos for the first time.

Instead of the ante-post favourite, Cooper is on board A Toi Phil, another of Leary’s half-dozen runners as the Gigginstown team chase victory in Ireland’s most prestigious summer steeplechase prize for a third time in four years.

Their last two Plate heroes, Lord Scoundrel and Road To Riches, are back for another crack at the €250,000 highlight. But this time it is Balko Des Flos who is widely regarded as O’Leary’s best chance.

His trainer Henry De Bromhead has six declarations overall too – and a third reserve in On Fiddlers Green who would be no back-number if he gets in. Champion trainer Willie Mullins has five and the JP McManus team have three chances among the 22-strong field.

Stradivarius tunes up for St Leger shot with Goodwood Cup win

---

Mullins aiming to defend top trainer crown in Galway

---

Ana O’Brien does not require surgery on fractured vertebrae

---

Joseph O’Brien can herald a change of the Galway guard

---

So it can appear in the circumstances that Gigginstown shuffling their jockey cards is just one element of another big-race scenario limited to certain key players. Handicaps are theoretically supposed to level the playing field for the little guy but this looks like shaping up into another Plate very much dominated by the big guys.

Over the last seven years, McManus has also won three times. Rich Ricci’s colours were carried to success in 2011 by the Mullins-trained Blazing Tempo. De Bromhead’s Shanahan’s Turn won in 2015 when carrying the colours of another of the jump game’s major owners, Ann & Alan Potts.

It's a long way from Sir Frederick winning for Liam Burke a decade ago, or another small Cork stable, that of Jimmy Mangan, lifting the Plate 20 years before.

Last year Lord Scoundrel led home a trio of Mullins horses with two his own Gordon Elliott-trained stable companions in fifth and sixth.

[CROSSHEAD]Prolific winner

[/CROSSHEAD] That began a streak of major handicap chase victories for Elliott that took him to within a whisker of the trainer’s championship, a title he might have secured anyway had Willie Mullins not won the Galway Hurdle a day later.

It's a context in which the most obvious potential establishment interloper could be Sandymount Duke, a horse trained by the peerless Jessica Harrington and owned by the Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.

With Robbie Power still on the sidelines, Danny Mullins takes over on that prolific winner who scored up the Ballybrit hill over hurdles a couple of years ago.

Davy Russell has a couple of Galway Hurdle victories under his belt but no Plate. However in Balko Des Flos he has a horse boasting clear credentials including a fine Grade One third last season behind the top-class pair, Disko and Our Duke.

Subsequently he looked a little unlucky in a novice handicap at the Punchestown festival, a race with a good record in relation to the Plate, and with ground versatility in his locker, Balko Des Flos looks a type to tackle the final hill with relish.

His stable companion Devils Bride was fourth last year and can boast two course victories so may represent an each-way alternative while the McManus-owned mare Slowmotion concedes in experience terms but should like the ground conditions.

There are two British raiders for the Plate but the best hope of a cross-channel victory on Wednesday may be Brian Ellison's Our Kylie who is back in Ballybrit to try and win the mares handicap hurdle again.

She is rated 8lbs higher than a year ago but two victories on the flat this summer indicate she is still on the upgrade.