RACING/News and Previews: Commanche Court is a 5 to 1 favourite for Monday's Powers Gold Label Irish Grand National after 18 horses were declared against him yesterday.
However, his trainer Ted Walsh also had bad news to announce yesterday, when he reported a setback with Papillon which means the Aintree National hero of 2000 will miss out on next Saturday's Liverpool feature.
Papillon has picked up a ligament injury in a knee during his preparation for another tilt at the big fences and is unlikely to race again this season.
The sole British runner set to take on Commanche Court in the Fairyhouse highlight he won two years ago will be the outsider Trouble Ahead. But both Dessie Hughes and Noel Meade will be triple-handed in the race.
Hughes supplies last year's runner, Rathbawn Prince as well as the course specialist Timbera. Meade's team is headed by The Bunny Boiler and Arctic Copper.
"The ground is good to yielding at the moment and the latest forecast is that we may escape any rain on Monday but not on Sunday," Fairyhouse manager Dick Sheil said yesterday.
The Paddy Power betting is: 5/1 Commanche Court, 8/1 Rathbawn Prince, 10/1 Cregg House & Timbera, 11/1 Takagi, 12/1 Arctic Copper, The Bunny Boiler & Ellenjay, 14/1 Bar.
The first day of Fairyhouse's four-day festival kicks off tomorrow with the most valuable contest being the opening chase, where Topacio officially has 10lb in hand of his opposition.
The handicap hurdle has attracted a much bigger field and maybe the value in the race could lie with Portobello Lady, who ran a decent third to Rapid Deployment at Naas.
Charlie Swan reintroduces Ground Ball to action in the novice hurdle. The McManus runner hasn't started since February at Kempton behind Hitman, but ruined his chance then by running free.
The focus before tomorrow, however, will largely be on the start of Cork's own Easter festival where the hints provided by the kick-off of the flat at the Curragh last weekend should start paying off.
As expected, John Oxx's string were out of the blocks very quickly while the Weld team failed to hit the mark.
In the opener today, Oxx runs the Selkirk colt Clouseau against the Ballydoyle representative Elegant Cat and the edge could be with the Curragh-based horse.
In the next the value could lie with the Oxx second string Takarna, who ran second to the highly-regarded Jazz Beat on her second start last year.
It should also pay to closely examine the Oxx runners tomorrow, especially the Sadlers Wells colt Elapour, who must be showing something to still be a newcomer in training.
In the opener, Lady Barbara's three-quarter length second to the highly-regarded Maderno makes her something of a stand out on a day that the British champion jockey Kieren Fallon makes a flying visit to the track.
The major National Hunt prize over the weekend down south is the €40,000 Heineken Chase which looks good for the classy Risk Accessor.
The Saturday feature is the Murphys Handicap Hurdle where a lot of attention is sure to focus on the Cesarewitch winner Rapid Deployment.
The Pat Hughes runner got up by a neck against Room To Room Value at Naas last month and has been put up 8lb for that. Considering his flat ability, and the half mile hike in trip, he still looks an interesting prospect.
An extensive weekend programme is completed by Down Royal today where the most interesting contender could be Tony Martin's mount Kiora Lady in the bumper.
