Florida Pearl out to silence doubters

Florida Pearl is on the recovery trail at Punchestown tomorrow, but first the track will have to pass a morning inspection today.

Punchestown was lashed by 14 mm of rain over Thursday night, with a further couple of millimetres yesterday morning, and there will be some anxious scanning of the skies by the executive this morning.

"It never stopped last night, but we're just about raceable at the moment and the forecast is pretty good," said official Richie Galway. "But we have to hold a morning inspection in case there is further overnight rain. We have to be confident however."

Whether Willie Mullins can be as confident of Florida Pearl after his comparative Down Royal flop behind Looks Like Trouble is debatable. But as the shortest-priced Irish horse for the Gold Cup at 10 to 1 and rated 15 lb superior than Native Upmanship for the John Durkan Chase, Florida Pearl clearly holds the key to tomorrow's feature.

Mullins has dismissed Florida Pearl's seasonal debut as one of those things and is keen for the horse to take his chance around the modified Punchestown track. He also has a very worthwhile opponent.

Native Upmanship is rated a 16 to 1 chance for the Gold Cup and has also attracted support for the King George VI Chase. That's based on a fine novice campaign, but especially on an impressive first start of the season when beating Frozen Groom and Delphi Lodge.

The Moore horse is definitely on the improve, but concrete facts are that Native Upmanship is still rated 15lb inferior to Florida Pearl and also has to concede a lot in terms of experience.

The day's other Graded race, the O'Connell Group Hilly Way Chase, can provide the bet of the day in To Your Honour, who was undeniably impressive when beating Go Roger Go and Klairon Davis at Naas.

The top rated horse is Space Trucker, but all this rain is the last thing Space Trucker wants to see and the veteran former champion Klairon Davis could emerge as a bigger threat to the Francis Flood horse.

With the premium on stamina, maybe the West Corktrained Call Me Dara can reverse previous form with Section Seven in the Conyngham Cup.

Another West Cork scorer could be Follow The Leader in the handicap hurdle.

Arthur Moore and Conor O'Dwyer may have to give best with Native Upmanship, but Fadoudal Du Cochet missed out on a Cheltenham engagement for the two mile handicap chase, while Royal Plaisir is hard to get away from as the winner of the novice hurdle.