NEWS:LISTOWEL'S 150th anniversary festival concludes this afternoon with the in-form team of Conem and Barry Geraghty set to send punters home happy. Conem is going for a quick festival double having won over the course and distance of today's €30,000 feature in easy style on Thursday.
Ruby Walsh rode the eight-year-old then but he is committed to Red Vinto in the Edmond Whelan Handicap Hurdle and Geraghty comes in for a valuable "spare". Conem is up 9lb for that win but his nine-length defeat of Clan Music was impressive and the ratings hike doesn't look enough to stop him bringing off a 48-hour double.
Listowel's traditional finale, the Slan Abhaile Race, has attracted the former champion bumper performer Cork All Star, his stable companion Zarinava and also the versatile Larkwing.
Preference though is for Solwhit, who was a hurdles winner in France before joining Charles Byrnes and earned some fancy Champion Hurdle odds for next year when scoring well at Punchestown last April. Solwhit subsequently won impressively on the flat at Killarney and looks progressive enough to give 4lb to Cork All Star.
Noel Meade and Paul Carberry appear to have their usual strong team of juvenile hurdlers this season and Champus can prove the point again in the first division of the maiden hurdle.
It wouldn't be a total surprise to see William Hogarth jump a hurdle in time, which is a disappointment considering the colt was briefly favourite for the Derby before he even appeared on a racecourse. After two failures as a juvenile, the High Chaparral colt ran a fine debut this season when third to Winchester and Moonstone at Leopardstown but his only subsequent start was when finishing last in the Grand Prix de Paris having been used as a pacemaker.
John Murtagh travels to Dundalk this afternoon to ride William Hogarth in the first division of the mile-and-a-half maiden and a repeat of his first piece of form this season would be more than enough. In the second division Tarvini may be the option.
Murtagh will also be fancied in the mile fillies maiden with the 102 rated Love To Dance, whose last start was a Group Two third to Katiyra, while Silver Shoon can make it eighth time lucky in the seven-furlong auction maiden.
• Denman is set to undergo tests after the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner was found to have an irregular heartbeat.
"He's been very lethargic, not looking good and he lost a bit of weight rapidly, so we had him examined by Geoff Land and Buffy Shirley-Bevan, our vet," said the trainer Paul Nicholls.
"They found he is suffering from an irregular heartbeat, so he'll go to Newmarket next week for further examination and treatment."
