TRANQUIL SEA broke the Irish hoodoo in the Paddy Power Gold Cup two weeks ago and Casey Jones is out to do the same in the Hennessy Gold Cup tomorrow.
Be My Royal passed the post first for Willie Mullins in 2002 but subsequently lost the race after testing positive for a banned substance. Michael O’Brien’s Bright Highway, who was also the last Irish-trained winner of the Paddy Power before Tranquil Sea, was the most recent Hennessy victor from these shores in 1980.
Grade One-winning novice Casey Jones will bid to break that barren spell and arrives on the back of a fair fourth in the JNwine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal.
“He’s in good shape. He had a long trip over, they went last night and didn’t arrive until early this morning but he travelled well and he’s in good shape I think,” said Navan trainer Noel Meade.
“The course and distance could suit us but the one thing that could be against us is if the ground got really heavy. English soft is okay but if it got sticky and heavy, that would be against him.
“He ran well in Down Royal but got lost in the heavy ground down the back and got left on his own a bit. I thought he was going to be second turning in but he got a bit tired in the straight. That run will have brought him on.
“I certainly hope he’ll run a big race but it’s a very competitive race. The fact that Denman is in leaves those high handicapped horses on a racing weight.
“We are lucky that Noel Fehily is able to ride him. He was supposed to be riding something else (Roll Along) until declaration time,” said Meade yesterday.
Denman heads a field of 21 for the prestigious race but he will be racing off a mark 13lb higher than when he won two years ago. Nevertheless, he is still 7 to 2 favourite with Coral.
Meade has still to finalise his plans for Sunday’s Bar One Racing Drinmore Novices’ Chase at Fairyhouse. The trainer has a strong squad of novice chasers and Oscar Looby, a winner of both his chases, is likely to run but whether Grade One-winning hurdlers Jered and Pandorama take their chances is still up in the air.
“I’m leaning towards Pandorama but it’s right-handed and he did go left the last day so we would have liked to run him somewhere left first. I don’t think it’s a problem. We’ve schooled him since and he’s schooled perfectly straight.
“There is every possibility he might run in the Drinmore because I think it is the right race to run him in. However, Jered is still in there as well and we are very happy with him so I’ll just have to talk it over.
“Oscar Looby is another we could run in it and I think he probably will run,”
Muirhead is likely to miss the Bar One Racing Hatton’s Grace Hurdle at the same venue. Meade will instead rely on Aitmatov, an impressive winner of the Lismullen Hurdle.
