Morris is hopeful for War

Mouse Morris is "hopeful but not confident" of getting the Cheltenham Gold Cup contender War Of Attrition ready in time for his proposed Christmas engagement at Leopardstown.

War Of Attrition ran a disappointing race in Sunday's John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown and the results of some important tests on the horse will become available today.

War Of Attrition drifted in the Gold Cup market to as high as 20 to 1 after managing to finish only a well-beaten fifth to Hi Cloy, but Morris has not given up hope of getting his stable star to Leopardstown in time for the Lexus Chase. "He seems fine today but he blew very hard after the race and I am waiting on the results of some tests we took afterwards," the trainer said yesterday.

"I am not going to make any decisions until he has been fully checked out and the results are back. The Lexus is where I want to go. I am hopeful but not confident we will get there," he added.

War Of Attrition reportedly scoped clean after his race on Sunday.

One horse who will be waiting for War Of Attrition if he does make the Lexus is the two time former winner Beef Or Salmon.

His trainer Michael Hourigan said: "With War Of Attrition possibly sick and Kicking King looking like he will go to Sandown for the King George, the Lexus looks very winnable and it is a good prize.

"If he'd won the Betfair race, then I would have travelled to Sandown but we can't get the bonus (Betfair Million); it makes sense to stay at home."

Leopardstown is gearing up for its important Christmas festival but may have to do without at least one of the lucrative holiday festivals in the near future.

A 16-month closure of the race track has been outlined, including the whole of 2008, in order to facilitate extensive rebuilding work.

The current main stand is to be torn down and replaced by a modern construction in an overall project that is forecast to cost €40 million.

The project is at the design stage currently and it has yet to be passed by the board of Horse Racing Ireland. However, HRI will be asked to pick up over half the cost.

No decision has been taken on where the Leopardstown fixtures may be switched to if the closure goes ahead.