Racing:Willie Mullins will be hoping he has followed the Hedgehunter route with The Midnight Club after landing a one-two in the At The Races Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse.
The Grade Two contest has been a fine Aintree Grand National trial down the years, with The Midnight Club’s illustrious former stable companion taking this prize on the way to glory in the Aintree showpiece in 2005.
Sent off the 11-10 favourite after finishing second in the Thyestes Chase, The Midnight Club moved powerfully for Paul Townend and was bang there heading to the final fence. Oscar Time loomed as a threat but failed to pick up as might have been expected and The Midnight Club saw it out well to hold off Arbor Supreme by a length.
Mullins said: “I’m happy with both horses. The Midnight Club came on nicely from his Thyestes run and it is nice to see Arbor Supreme come back into a bit of form. The Midnight Club probably showed normal improvement from his first run of the season and we’re now happy that we’re on track with both horses for the Grand National. They are unlikely to run again before that.”
Oscar Time’s trainer Martin Lynch was not too disappointed with the performance of his charge, who will also travel to Aintree for the National. He said: “He’s Aintree-bound and we’re very happy — he jumped super. That was the first time Sam (Waley-Cohen) rode him in public over fences.
“There’s still a bit of fine-tuning to be done. He’s not the biggest and it was important that Sam got a feel of the scope the horse has to jump. We’ll see how he comes out of this but I’d imagine he’ll head straight to Aintree. That’s always been the plan.”
Eric McNamara is likely to bypass Cheltenham and Aintree with Little Green despite her determined success in the Winning Fair Juvenile Hurdle. The 13-2 chance had filled the runner-up spot on her latest appearance at Thurles and was produced to challenge at the final flight by Paul Townend.
Chaperoned tried to keep tabs on Little Green on the run to the line, but the latter saw it out strongly to record a two-length success.
There was drama in the I.T.B.A. Fillies Scheme Novice Hurdle as first-past-the-post Stephanie Kate (7-4 favourite) under David Casey was relegated to second in favour of original runner-up Definite Class (Bryan Cooper) following interference going to the last.
Charles Byrnes, meanwhile, has confirmed Solwhit will take his chance in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle at Cheltenham next month. The seven-year-old has found Champion Hurdle-bound Hurricane Fly too strong on his last three racecourse appearances and as a result, Byrnes ruled him out of a tilt at that two-mile Grade One.
However, he has been successful at two and a half miles and Byrnes is now keen to see how he fares against the best in the staying division at three miles.
"It looks more likely now that he'll run. We gave him a break after his last run and he just started riding out again last week," Byrnes said. "I think he's freshened up well and the plan is to run him in the World Hurdle.
"He's obviously going into the unknown by running over three miles, but it seemed the best option. We were thinking of waiting until Aintree but as long as he's all right between now and then, he'll go to Cheltenham."