PHILIP FENTON insists Brian O’Connell will keep the ride on Dunguib at next month’s Punchestown Festival. The conditional jockey came in for plenty of criticism after Dunguib finished third as the odds-on favourite in last week’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Fenton is pleased with how his stable star has come out of the race and is not ruling out a tilt at the Rabobank Champion Hurdle at Punchestown. “Dunguib took his race at Cheltenham extremely well and the idea now is to head to Punchestown,” said Fenton.
“He will be given an entry in both the Evening Herald Champion Novice Hurdle and the Rabobank Champion Hurdle.
“At the moment there is every chance that he will stay in novice company, but we will keep our cards close to our chest and take a close look at both races nearer the time before making any final decision. We just didn’t have the luck on the day at Cheltenham but we have to put up with it.
“Fair dues to the winner, who did it well, but we have to look forward to getting Dunguib back on track at Punchestown. Brian will be back on the horse and he will make amends for what happened at Cheltenham.”
Sizing Europe is likely to bid to follow up his Arkle win in the Ryanair Novice Chase at the Punchestown Festival. Henry de Bromhead’s eight-year-old maintained his unbeaten record over fences in the hands of Andrew Lynch last week, and banished all his previous bad memories of Prestbury Park in the process.
“Sizing Europe is in good form – he travelled home well and we are very happy with him,” said De Bromhead. “I am absolutely over the moon with his run at Cheltenham and it hasn’t really sunk in yet. I was especially delighted for the horse because he finally showed what he can do at Cheltenham.
“Everything seems to have fallen into place with him this season and a lot of hard work has gone into him.
“We are just getting him over last week but we are certainly aiming him towards the Ryanair Novice Chase. He certainly likes Punchestown – he has won there four times, including when beating Big Zeb in a winners of one hurdle at the 2007 Festival, which looks like quite a good bit of form now!”
The participation of De Bromhead’s other Grade One-winning chaser, An Cathaoir Mor, depends on the ground, while his smart novice hurdler Loosen My Load is likely to head to Fairyhouse first.
Solwhit will not bid for back-to-back wins in the Aintree Hurdle and will instead go to Punchestown if conditions are suitable. Charles Byrnes’ six-year-old had won three Grade One races before the festival but his participation was placed in doubt just days before the race when he started coughing.
Byrnes was happy enough to let him run and he was not disgraced in sixth, but his handler believes the quicker ground was more to blame than the setback.
“Solwhit will probably go to Punchestown,” said Byrnes. “He seems to have come out of the race okay, we’ve given him a week off just to freshen him up and he’s been out in the paddock. I’d say he just needs to go back to soft ground to be seen at his best.”
Chases get chop
Gowran Park has abandoned the two chases – the Leighlinbridge Beginners Chase and the Paulstown Handicap Chase – scheduled for its card on Wednesday, March 31st, due to ground conditions on the chase course.
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