Two of the hottest chasing prosin the country are on course to meet in the John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown on December 9th as Flemenstar and Sir Des Champs head 15 entries.
Trained by Peter Casey, Flemenstar oozed class in winning the Fortria Chase on his reappearance last week while Willie Mullins’ Sir Des Champs has not been seen since following up his second Cheltenham Festival win in Grade One company at Punchestown.
Mullins has also entered the Rich Ricci-owned duo of Blackstairmountain and Blazing Tempo.
Paul Nicholls could send Cristal Bonus over after his impressive Down Royal win. He is the sole British entry.
Last year’s winner Rubi Light is a possible for Robbie Hennessy, with Quito De La Roque and First Lieutenant also possibles.
Bog Warrior, Realt Dubh and Hidden Cyclone are other top-class contenders.
Trainer Mouse Morris has confirmed that First Lieutenant will not run in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury on December 1st.
“He won’t be going over for the Hennessy,” said the Co Tipperary handler.
“He’s rated higher over there now so I’m not tempted.
“We’ll just have a sit down and see what’s next.”
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)