RACING FAIRYHOUSE PREVIEW:THE FREEZING weather may have thrown racing into disarray for almost three weeks but the net result at Fairyhouse today is one of the most exceptional race meetings the sport in Ireland has ever seen.
An eight-race programme contains four Grade One contests, a Grade Two , a Grade Three and a pair of Graded handicaps, all of which have accumulated at Fairyhouse after a series of postponements at the Ratoath course and a couple of race switches from other tracks.
It is an accumulation of quality that represents some of the cream of jump racing in this country and it will be fascinating to see what kind of attendance the likes of Solwhit, Hurricane Fly, Mikael D’Haguenet et al can produce midweek off a €10 flat rate admission fee.
“It should be a day to savour. Rescheduled meetings are always difficult but the fact there is such quality will be a big help,” the Fairyhouse manager Peter Roe said yesterday. “You’ll never get better quality again. A meeting with eight pattern races is unprecedented.”
The Bar One Racing Hatton’s Grace Hurdle was the centrepiece of the original “Winter Festival” card on November 28th and it maintains that status despite the John Durkan Memorial Chase being moved from Punchestown.
All 11 of the original entries stand their ground and that means Ireland’s principal Champion Hurdle hopes, Solwhit and Hurricane Fly, will clash in the two-and-a-half-mile feature.
Hurricane Fly is one of a hugely strong team champion trainer Willie Mullins is sending to Fairyhouse with Mikael D’Haguenet’s first start in almost 20 months in the Drinmore Chase another eagerly-awaited part of today’s action.
On the back of the recent weather conditions though, Mullins is unsure of what to expect.
“We’ve been riding out every day but we haven’t been able to do as much work as might need to. I think it told on a few of ours yesterday (Monday at Cork) when some of ours arrived to win and didn’t quite go through with it,” he said yesterday.
“But it’s the same for everyone. We’ve probably done as much as everyone else. I wouldn’t expect them to be one hundred per cent,” Mullins added.
The champion trainer is giving Hurricane Fly a first start of the season but said he expected Solwhit to be very hard to beat in the Hatton’s Grace.
“Hurricane Fly has won over the trip but the ground will probably be horrible,” he said. “I think this is Solwhit’s best trip and he is fit after a run so he will be hard to beat.”
Solwhit actually has a first start over two and a half miles since winning the 2009 Aintree Hurdle and has since won five Grade One’s over the minimum trip. They include last month’s Morgiana at Punchestown.
“We’re glad to get the race on and he is ready to run again. You would hope that he’ll be a fitter horse than he was at Punchestown last month. Hurricane Fly would look the main danger. If we both run up to our best, it would look between the two of us,” his trainer Charles Byrnes said yesterday.
Mikael D’Haguenet faces a big ask in his first start over fences in Ireland but the brilliant and unbeaten novice hurdler has a reputation to make his nine Drinmore opponents think twice.
They include Quito De La Roque who also starts his novice chase career in Grade One company as well as the highly touted pair, Realt Dubh and Jessies Dream. However, it will be disappointing if Mikael’s reputation ends up tarnished. Zaidpour is the Mullins favourite for the Royal Bond and the sole four-year-old in the line-up was undeniably impressive at Punchestown on his sole jumping start to date.
Mount Helicon has placed form from Cheltenham earlier this season but drops back in trip so some value could be available in the Noel Meade-trained Perfect Smile who looked a stronger horse on his reappearance in October.
Captain Cee Bee skips the Durkan, as does the 2007 winner, The Listener, but the Mullins team have the former RSA winner Cooldine as well as the high-class mare, J’y Vole. The solution could be Tranquil Sea, who is attempting a first Grade One victory over fences, and comes here on the back of smooth reappearance success at Clonmel. Two and a half miles looks an ideal trip for Edward O’Grady’s former Paddy Power Gold Cup winner.
O’Grady’s Sailors Warn can improve enough from his Cork debut to contend in the Juvenile Hurdle while Golden Silver is hard to argue with in terms of official figures for the Hilly Way which has been moved from Cork.
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