DANOLI, who made such a sparkling return to action at Leopardstown last month after a serious injury, could face unexpectedly stiff opposition in the Red Mills Trial Hurdle on Saturday. For Dermot Weld hopes that For"tune And Fame will make his seasonal reappearance in the Gowran race, with Richard Dunwoody taking the mount.
Both horses have next month's Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham as their main target. Danoli was only a head in front of the Weld runner when taking third place to Alderbrook in last year's running.
Fortune And Fame's career has been blighted by a series of niggling injuries and this would be the nine year old's first outing since winning beating Tropical Lake and Hotel Minella in the Downs hire Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival at the end of April. He is on offer at 25 to 1 for the Champion Hurdle, for which Danoli is second favourite at 5 to 1.
Hotel Minella, an 8 to 1 chance for the big Cheltenham race after splitting Collier Bay and Danoli on unfavourable ground in the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle, is a doubtful runner on Saturday unless the ground dries out considerably in the meantime. Instead, Aidan O'Brien is expected to run Tiananmen Square, who performed very well after a lengthy lay off when third to Derrymoyle and Balawhar at Punchestown earlier this month.
Red Mills Hurdle entries: Belvederian, Danoli, Fortune And Fame, Hotel Minella, Jupiter Jimmy, Time For A Run, Scobie Boy, Tiananmen Square, Balawhar, Be My Hope, Little Buck, Holders Hill.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)