Symphony and Sizing arrive safely

RACING:SIZING EUROPE and Sizing Symphony, Henry De Bromhead's two runners at Sandown's two-day meeting, have arrived safely in Britain.

The Co Waterford trainer’s fears about the ferry service being cancelled due to stormy weather thankfully proved unfounded. “We got the ferry to Holyhead okay. The journey was good. The weather’s not so bad now,” he said. “They wouldn’t take horses if they weren’t happy, so it was fine and both horses are absolutely fine.”

Queen Mother champion Chase winner Sizing Europe goes for the feature Tingle Creek Chase on Saturday, while Sizing Symphony, a winner at Cheltenham in October, runs in the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle on tomorrow’s card.

“I’m looking forward to seeing Sizing Symphony run on Friday and hopefully Sizing Europe will run well on Saturday.”

However, Northern Ireland trainer Stuart Crawford had to scrap plans to send Streamtown and Sparville over to run at Catterick yesterday.

“I’m not at Catterick. We didn’t manage to get on the ferry. It’s that stormy here with us,” said the Co Antrim handler. “It’s a shame as I would have fancied both our runners there today.”

Rare Bob will attempt to give Dessie Hughes his third winner of the Betfred Becher Chase in four years at Aintree on Saturday. The Co Kildare trainer sent out Black Apalachi (2008) and Vic Venturi (2009) to win this handicap chase over the mighty Grand National fences, and expects Rare Bob to take to them.

“I’m looking forward to going over to Liverpool with Rare Bob. He travels over on Thursday evening, jockey arrangements haven’t been finalised yet, but I’m sure we’ll be able to get a decent jockey for him,” Hughes said yesterday.

“It doesn’t matter to him if it rains or not. He goes on good ground. I think he might like the Aintree course. He’s a good jumper, he likes a bit of a trip, three mile and two. The fences might be a bit of a challenge to him, so he might take to them.

“I wasn’t very pleased with him in Down Royal (in the JNwine.com Champion Chase). He never got hold of his bridle and really raced.

“I intended putting blinkers or cheekpieces on the next day he runs because he had them on before when he won, but I don’t think he needs them for Liverpool. He has plenty of weight to carry but I’d be hopeful of a good run.”

Hughes believes Rivage D’Or’s ability to handle testing conditions will stand him in good stead at Fairyhouse on Sunday. The six-year-old bids for a Grade One triumph in the Drinmore Novice Chase on the back of a first win over fences at Thurles.

“He’s a good staying horse and gets the trip well. He goes well on heavy and it looks like being that way at the moment as we’ve had an awful lot of rain on Tuesday and it’s not finished yet,” he said.

“Going on the ground will be a big asset to him and he’s in good form. He’ll be ridden to come off the pace. He likes that. It’s a very good race, it usually is, and maybe his owner Michael O’Leary might even have a better one in there with someone else. He has Last Instalment and First Lieutenant as well.”

Fran Berry, meanwhile, will have to remain in hospital in Japan for another week after breaking his ankle. The Irish-born jockey suffered the injury in an incident on the way to the start for a race in Tokyo on November 13th.

“He’s fractured his ankle. He’s got it plastered and we’ll have to see how it goes,” said Berry’s agent Ciarán O’Toole.