McNamara set to upstage his older brother

LEOPARDSTOWN PREVIEW:TOP PROFESSIONAL jockey Andrew McNamara will be a major player aboard Osana in Leopardtown's Grade One St Stephen's Day feature, and will be on the hot favourite, Alaivan, in the Grade Two main support event. However, he could still end up playing second-fiddle to his kid brother.

Twenty-year-old Robbie McNamara is one of the top amateur riders in the country despite being well over six foot tall with all the attendant weight difficulties that that brings.

But he has teamed up profitably with the legendary trainer Dermot Weld over the last number of seasons and with Weld throwing his small-but-select team of jump horses at Saturday’s meeting, McNamara could have excellent prospects of a three-timer.

Elegant Concorde’s sole appearance to date yielded a second here 11 months ago and he should be hard to beat in the bumper while Universal Truth a triple bumper winner last season, will be fancied to make a winning jumping debut in the second maiden hurdle.

Both of those horses carry the colours of Dublin-based Dr Ronan Lambe and so does Rite Of Passage who is the undoubted star of the Weld winter team and makes his own jumping debut in the opener.

Rite Of Passage started favourite for last season’s Champion Bumper at Cheltenham and finished third to Dunguib, after which he won on the flat at Ballinrobe before turning to the November Handicap here seven weeks ago into a rout.

“Whatever National Hunt horses we have are ready for Leopardstown,” Weld said. “We have got to start Rite Of Passage off. We will see whether he makes a hurdler. If he doesn’t, he can go back to the flat.”

Rite Of Passage is already rated a 14 to 1 shot for the Neptune Investment Hurdle at Cheltenham – formerly the Ballymore – and anything but a smooth success this holiday weekend will be a surprise.

The Grade One spotlight is undoubtedly on the Bord Na Mona Novice Chase, a €90,000 feature whose sponsorship has been taken over by a State body, thus reflecting the new economic climate that Irish racing is having to cope with. Even in richer times, however, the race rarely featured a field as full of quality as this year’s.

Osana, runner up to Katchit in a Champion Hurdle, has impressed in both his starts this season while Captain Cee Bee, a 2008 Supreme winner at Cheltenham, showed a fine attitude on his comeback event at Naas.

Fosters Cross and the Weld trained Bobs Pride are other smart horses but if there is a genuine future superstar in the race, it looks likely to be Sizing Europe who has been faultless in all three of his starts over fences to date.

A total of eight line up for the Inforthenight.ie Juvenile Hurdle, all of them winners, but even allowing for that, there will be some surprise if the Grade Two heat doesn’t put the seal on Alaivan’s claims to be the best three-year-old hurdler in Ireland.

The ex-John Oxx Listed winner is a clear 7 to 1 ante-post favourite for the Triumph Hurdle already after a hugely impressive jumping debut at Gowran when winning on the bridle by 15 lengths.

“You couldn’t fail to be impressed. He looks to have a shot wherever he goes,” O’Grady admitted afterwards.

The form of that Gowran success was subsequently boosted at Clonmel by Leblon who is back for another crack at Alaivan now. Noel Meade has a high opinion of Cross Appeal who carries a penalty while Shanrod looks a different proposition over hurdles to what he was on the flat.

But Alaivan was better than these on the level and can maintain that superiority now.

Dermot Weld is not the only primarily flat-orientated trainer with an input into the traditional St Stephen’s Day festival.

Jim Bolger takes on his old rival’s Universal Truth in the four- year-old maiden hurdle with his Galileo filly Kitty Hawk Miss. The Derby-winning trainer has form around Leopardstown too having landed back-to-back Irish Champion Hurdle victories in 1991-92 with Nordic Surprise and Chirkpar. However, salvation in the handicap hurdle could come from a more familiar Leopardstown Christmas face as Arthur Moore looks to have one at the right end of the weights in Lastoftheleaders.