MASTER MINDED looks set to line up at the Punchestown Festival next week after connections decided to supplement him for Tuesday’s Kerrygold Champion Chase.
The six-year-old won his second Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival last month and champion trainer Paul Nicholls had been mulling over whether to run his charge again before the end of the season.
Saturday’s Celebration Chase at Sandown had been the preferred option but with conditions in Esher likely to be too quick, Nicholls has decided to send his charge in search of the fifth Grade One prize of his career.
“We would have liked to have gone to Sandown but it doesn’t look like there is going to be enough rain before the weekend so a Grade One at Punchestown suits him very well,” Nicholls said.
“He’s a big, strong horse so you wouldn’t want to run him on fast ground and Clive (Smith, owner) and I have been discussing it over the last fortnight on a daily basis.
“We said if there was plenty of rain forecast we would look at Punchestown and that is what we’re doing.”
Officials are understandably delighted the French-bred gelding is a possible for their flagship meeting.
Punchestown general manager Dick O’Sullivan said: “It is a marvellous privilege to have a world-class horse like Master Minded entered to run at Punchestown.
“Paul Nicholls has been a great supporter of ours and had an especially good festival last year. It will be a wonderful opportunity for racing enthusiasts to see a horse of this calibre in the flesh and we look forward to welcoming Clive Smith to the home of Irish National Hunt racing.”
Meanwhile, Lucy Wadham is confident El Dancer will be a force to be reckoned with given suitable ground in the €100,000 Evening Herald Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown on Tuesday.
The five-year-old got off the mark over obstacles in a relatively minor contest at Plumpton on his penultimate start before springing a surprise in the Top Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree.
Wadham has been delighted with the gelding’s subsequent progress, and is full of hope he can prove that performance to be no fluke next week.
“El Dancer is all set for Punchestown and he has been in good nick since Aintree,” said Wadham.
“American Trilogy was giving us weight at Aintree but our horse won despite himself. He pulled too hard early on, then got knocked back in the race with a slow jump and stayed on from an almost impossible position.
“He is still learning and a little bit green at his hurdles. He jumps a little bit big but he is obviously improving with every run.”
El Dancer is one of 15 entries for the Grade One heat at the confirmation stage and looks certain to face the sternest test of his career so far. Willie Mullins has left in Cousin Vinny, Kempes and Hurricane Fly, while Fisher Bridge Zaarito and Brendan Powell’s Shoreacres are other interesting possibles.
Emma Lavelle is also looking forward to pitching her high-class novice Bouggler into the Punchestown fray. The four-year-old is unbeaten in two starts over obstacles. The €90,000 Grade One Land Rover Champion Novice Hurdle next Friday is next on his agenda.
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