Gaspar gallops rivals into ground

Gaspar produced a game front-running display to defy a price tag of 16 to 1 in the Phil Sweeney Memorial Chase at Thurles yesterday. The eight-year-old was pulled up behind the reopposing Vintage Treasure last month but comprehensively reversed the placings in the two-mile-two-furlong Grade Three.

Mick Darcy was quick to nudge Gaspar into an early lead and his mount never saw another rival - although Gemini Lucy and Vintage Treasure loomed up menacingly before the third-last fence.

But when push came to shove, neither of that pair found anything for pressure and Gemini Lucy was held in third when falling at the last.

Gaspar kept up the gallop to see off the staying-on Preists Leap by four lengths, as Vintage Treasure faded into third.

Winning trainer James McAuley said: "He's a good, genuine and consistent jumper. This was a bonus and you wouldn't expect to beat those horses off level weights. I hope Noel (O'Brien, handicapper) doesn't go to town on him now. He's the one horse in the yard that always seems to run to his mark."

Willie Mullins took the training honours with a treble courtesy of Alphazar (5 to 1), Sesenta (10 to 1) and Cooldine (8 to 13).

Meanwhile, Silent Oscar is being targeted at the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown on January 27th as trainer Harry Rogers plots a path to the Cheltenham Festival. The nine-year-old beat the ill-fated Macs Joy on the level in April before trumping the same horse in Grade One company over timber at Punchestown.

Silent Oscar has not been seen since, with Rogers keen to have his stable star spot-on for the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle in March. Rogers said: "He'll hopefully run at the end of the month in the AIG Champion at Leopardstown. He might have another run in between that and Cheltenham. Everything's been fine with him and he's been in training for a few months, but he's just a horse that doesn't come right at this time of year. He wants decent ground too."

Boylesports and William Hill offer 33 to 1 about Silent Oscar for the Champion Hurdle.

While Rogers has every respect for reigning champion Sublimity and Noel Meade's Harchibald, he feels a fighting-fit Silent Oscar would more than merit his place in the line-up.

"The Champion could be a very open race, the way things are going," Rogers added. "We wanted to be at Cheltenham last year but for some reason he just wasn't firing. Two weeks later he was a different horse."

Today's National Hunt action is under threat from the wintry weather as Lingfield and Newcastle both face early-morning inspections. Yesterday's fixture at Wetherby was abandoned due to waterlogging but it is frost and snow that pose the current problems. Officials at Newcastle will assess the situation at 7am while Lingfield will hold a precautionary inspection at 7.30am.