Baracouda set for a run-out

Racing/ News: Baracouda is set to make his seasonal debut in the Ballymore Properties Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury on Saturday.

The eight-year-old, trained in France by Francois Doumen, heads 10 entries for the Grade Two race over an extended three-miles.

"As long as the ground is all right you will see him at Newbury on Saturday," said Frank Berry, racing manager to the horse's owner JP McManus, yesterday. "I spoke to Francois last night and the intention is to run."

Baracouda has not raced since winning the Stayers' Hurdle for the second year running at Cheltenham in March.

Other entries for the race, which was re-opened after originally attracting only seven, include Deano's Beeno and Mr Cool from Martin Pipe's stable.

Deano's Beeno won this race in 1999 and 2000 and defeated Baracouda by a length in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot last December.

Mr Cool, meanwhile, ran Baracouda to a neck in the PricewaterhouseCoopers Ascot Hurdle in November 2002 and went one better in that contest last week.

The Kevin Ryan-trained Gralmano, winner of the John Smith's Hurdle at Wetherby, is another interesting entry.

The horses added to the original entries are Mark Pitman's Count Campioni, Sea Drifting from Kevin Morgan's stable and Happy Hussar, trained by Dr Philip Pritchard.

NEWBURY - Long Distance Hurdle: Baracouda, Deano's Beeno, Gralmano, Mr Cool, Sir Talbot, Sleeping Night, Springfield Scally, Count Campioni, Sea Drifting, Happy Hussar.