Today's Fairyhouse preview: Some great champions have won the Powers Gold Cup in the past and if there is a horse with the potential to make a major mark in the future it could just be Carrigeen Victor.
It is less than a year since the Jessica Harrington-trained seven-year-old first appeared on a racecourse at Cork last Easter. Since then he has run just three more times but already he is a Grade One winner and along the way left the impression that there is a lot more to come. The top level success came in his last start in last month's PJ Moriarty at Leopardstown when he beat off his stable companion, Well Presented, who significantly runs here instead of in yesterday's National.
That means Harrington has a formidable challenge in place but the 13-runner field also contains proven Grade One scorers like Forget The Past , Watson Lake and Like-A-Butterfly who could be racing for her track future.
Christy Roche hinted after her fifth in the SunAlliance at Cheltenham that Like-A-Butterfly might be retired but significantly she makes a quick reappearance under Tony McCoy.
Watson Lake did best of the Irish in the Arkle and won the Drinmore here in December. However, the suspicion remains he may be better at two rather than two and a half miles.
In contrast Carrigeen Victor, who provided rider Robbie Power with a first top-flight success in the Moriarty, will have no problems with the trip or the ground and vitally he does appear to be the one with the most improvement to come.
Justified will find the going a lot more to his liking in the Menolly Homes Novice Hurdle than when proving a costly failure in the Supreme at Cheltenham.
However, both he and Sunday's fourth Petertheknot are set to have to concede 6lb to The Railway Man and that looks a hard task.
The Railway Man went down by only three lengths to Royal Paradise in the Deloitte last month and looks the most likely answer to the Grade Two puzzle. The Jessica Harrington team landed last year's big handicap with Macs Joy and Imazulutoo will be a pretty potent weapon for the yard in today's renewal.
Imazulutoo returned to something like his best when runner-up to Escrea at Leopardstown earlier in the month and has a formidable record at Fairyhouse having won here as a two-year-old and also in a juvenile hurdle.
