RACING NEWS:MOST IRISH trainers venture to Cheltenham with hope in their hearts but Co Clare-based Noel Glynn admits to "very mixed feelings" about sending Gonebeyondrecall for Saturday's feature at Prestbury Park.

Gonebeyondrecall was withdrawn from last month’s Paddy Power Gold Cup at the start when the stewards decided he was wearing blinkers instead of a visor that he was declared for.

In Ireland no distinction is made between blinkers and a visor but a Cheltenham official on the day said: “He arrived at the start wearing what we would call blinkers.

“By our definition a visor has to have some sort of opening at the back to permit rearwards vision and these had no holes.”

Glynn, who trains at Spancilhill near Ennis, was dismayed at the decision which cost him a €140 fine and also left him out of pocket on an ante-post bet on the horse that he admitted to having.

He has appealed the decision to the British Horseracing Authority and remains furious at the Cheltenham stewards’ decision. However, he is prepared to return to Saturday’s Vote AP Gold Cup over the same course and distance as the Paddy Power.

“It looks like we’ll be travelling, and with the same apparatus!” Glynn said yesterday. “I’ve very mixed feelings about it but they are predicting good ground, which we’re not likely to get at Leopardstown over Christmas, and they’ve got the course covered so we will let him take his chance.”

No date has been set by the BHA for an appeal into the Gonebeyondrecall controversy where Glynn is appealing the fine and insisting that what were described at Cheltenham as “half-cup blinkers” are in fact a visor.

“The Turf Club have told me it is 100 per cent a visor but when we take them over again we will be able to adjust them if need be,” he said yesterday.

Glynn pointed out last month that the clerk of the scales at Cheltenham told him that the headgear would be checked out in the parade ring before the race but the horse had arrived at the start before any action was taken. The horse was then withdrawn by order of the stewards.

“A blind man could see they weren’t blinkers. Half the cup was gone. It fits all their description of a visor,” the trainer maintained yesterday.

There are five other Irish possibles including the JP McManus-owned duo, Dancing Tornado and Finger Onthe Pulse, Duers from Paul Magnier’s yard, as well as Tony Martin’s pair, Psycho and Northern Alliance.

Meanwhile, champion trainer Aidan O’Brien has lodged an appeal with the Turf Club’s Appeals and Referrals Committee against the decision of the Dundalk stewards last Saturday not to allow his son Joseph carry 4lb overweight in a race.

The filly Sing Softly was withdrawn from a race after the stewards at Dundalk decided no exceptional circumstances had been offered by the jockey or the trainer’s representative at the track to allow O’Brien ride.

Once a rider is set to carry more than 3lb overweight, permission has to be sought from the stewards to allow that jockey ride. In order to do so, “very exceptional circumstances” have to be presented and O’Brien’s representative, Ciarán Murphy, argued that Sing Softy is a tricky filly to manage and Joseph O’Brien was used to riding her at home on a daily basis.