Native Upmanship set for the Hennessy

Leopardstown looks set to provide testing conditions for Sunday's Hennessy Gold Cup but Arthur Moore has confirmed Native Upmanship will be a contender for the big race.

A track spokesman yesterday described the Leopardstown going as "soft to heavy" and added: "I can't see it veering much from that for Sunday."

Native Upmanship, the 100 to 30 Hennessy third favourite, disappointed on ground officially described as "heavy" in the Ericsson Chase on New Year's Eve, finishing a wellbeaten fourth behind Rince Ri with both Dorans Pride and Nick Dundee finishing ahead of him.

Moore has described Sunday's big race as one that Native Upmanship will probably have to win to justify a trip to England for the Cheltenham Gold Cup but was relatively unconcerned about the surface his horse will have to race on.

"I can't imagine the ground will be as bad as it was over Christmas," Moore said. "Unless there is a downpour I can't see there being a problem and at the moment I am very happy to run the horse."

The Leopardstown racing manager Tom Burke reported a downpour is unlikely which is welcome news after some of the dramatics that the weather has caused the racecourse this winter.

"There don't appear to be any problems in the offing but I'll tell you for sure on Monday morning!" joked Burke.

The warm 5 to 4 favourite Florida Pearl schooled well on Wednesday and continues to be the horse that interests the punters with Paddy Power reporting "significant interest" in their 20 to 1 offer about Florida Pearl winning both the Hennessy and the Cheltenham Gold Cup this season.

Florida Pearl's trainer Willie Mullins will also run Alexander Banquet who schooled yesterday morning although no jockey has been booked for the big race.

"He schooled well enough and he goes to Leopardstown on Sunday. I haven't got a jockey for him yet and we won't decide until tomorrow," Mullins said yesterday. "He'll probably need the run as he's missed a bit of time."

As for Florida Pearl, Mullins reported: "He schooled yesterday and schooled very well. He worked this morning and everything was great."

A former jump jockey who sued two fellow riders for causing a fall which ended his career lost his claim for damages at the High Court in Leeds yesterday . In the first case of its kind Mick Fitzgerald and Adrian Maguire were sued for negligence by 36-year-old Peter Caldwell, who has not ridden since breaking his back in a fall at Hexham in 1994.