McCoy bound for festival

Tony McCoy is set to travel from Britain for the third and fourth days of the Christmas festival at Leopardstown where ground conditions look set to remain testing despite the spell of dry weather.

In fact, compared to the very wet start to the month, it's very different weather conditions that are causing some concern in Britain, with Wetherby's officials planning to cover almost 23 acres of the Yorkshire coast to prevent problems from frost during their holiday fixtures.

Leopardstown's authorities are hopeful such dramatic moves will not be necessary at the Co Dublin track where the going yesterday had eased from heavy to an official verdict of "soft".

But no significant change is expected before the start of the prestigious, four-day Christmas Festival on St Stephen's Day.

"The conditions we have at the moment aren't really suitable for drying, so I would say the very best we will have is something like yielding to soft for day one," said Leopardstown manager Tom Burke yesterday.

"At the moment I wouldn't expect we will be in trouble because of the frosty weather. Certainly, if it doesn't get worse we won't have a problem. It's getting down to minus one or two at night, but it then clears away quickly in the morning.

"The Met office say it's very difficult to predict, but there will be varying cloud floating about, and if we got some of that there's a good chance we wouldn't get any frost at all," he added.

Better ground conditions will certainly be more suitable for the champion hurdler Brave Inca when he bids to repeat last year's victory in the bewleyshotel.com December Festival Hurdle next Friday.

The Colm Murphy-trained star wasn't suited by the heavy ground at Fairyhouse earlier in the month when Brave Inca was reunited with McCoy, who is expected to be available to ride again.

"I've been speaking to his agent, Dave Roberts, and he believes he is coming over," Murphy said yesterday. "The horse seems in good form and he will do his last bit of work in the morning. Then hopefully we'll just have to keep him ticking over."

McCoy is also likely to be at Leopardstown on Thursday for the ride on the French-trained L'Ami, owned by his boss, JP McManus, when the horse is scheduled to take on Beef Or Salmon and War Of Attrition in the Lexus Chase.

"Tony will certainly be at Leopardstown for L'Ami, but I shouldn't think he will be there for Paddy Power day as Foreman looks more likely to run in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton instead of the Dial-A-Bet race," said McManus's racing manager Frank Berry.

There could be significant Irish interest in Tuesday's Stan James Christmas Hurdle at Kempton with the Noel Meade pair of Iktitaf and Jazz Messenger among the 13 remaining in the race, as well as Asian Maze from Tom Mullins's yard.

The four-time Grade One-winning mare also has entries in the December Hurdle and the woodiesdiy.com Hurdle over three miles at Leopardstown, but better ground could see Asian Maze travel to Kempton instead.

"Hopefully she will do a bit of work in the morning and then I will know a bit more," Mullins said. "If it's heavy, she won't run anywhere, but I see it's supposed to be good to soft at Kempton at the moment. I'll ring them and see what the situation is, but she herself is in great form and her bloods have come back 100 per cent."

Another top mare is on the comeback trail with Brave Inca's stable companion Feathard Lady due to return to Colm Murphy's stable early in January.

Last year's Christmas Hurdle-winner injured a leg in the autumn but remains on the short-list for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.

"She comes back to us on January 2nd and then we'll kick on with her. The scans that have been taken are very good," said Murphy.

"I'm hopeful we will be able to get a run into her before Cheltenham, which would be fantastic. But if it doesn't happen, I wouldn't be too worried. She takes no work and normally we barely keep her ticking over. But it's 12 weeks to March and it will be a case of taking it day by day with her," he added.

Wednesday's feature at Chepstow will be the Coral Welsh Grand National, for which three Irish horses, Jack High, Lordofourown and Farmer Grant, remain possibles.

The Listener is a confirmed traveller to Ireland for the Lexus, and there could be another English runner in Wednesday's Paddy Power Dial-A-Bet-Chase in the shape of Mister McGoldrick. His trainer, Sue Smith, said yesterday: "He's in the King George, but I've also left him in at Leopardstown and the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton on the same day. I will need to see who is running where and talk to the owner before deciding."