RACING NEWS:IT'S NEARLY three years since Forpadydeplasterer last got his head in front but an encouraging Christmas effort at Leopardstown is fuelling hopes he can change that statistic in Saturday's Grade One feature at Ascot.
The former Cheltenham festival hero is a 10 to 1 shot in ante-post betting with the sponsors for the prestigious Victor Chandler Chase over two miles.
Forpadydeplasterer’s run of top-flight but ultimately unsuccessful performances now stretches back 11 races to when he enjoyed his finest hour in the 2009 Arkle.
During that admirable but frustrating run, the Tom Cooper-trained star has finished second a remarkable eight times and been placed third twice. His one time out of the frame was when pulled up in the King George won by Long Run last January.
Forpadydeplasterer spent a long time on the sidelines after that but his three performances this season have seen a noticeable improvement in performance and he was running a blinder in last month’s Dial-A-Bet Chase when a last-fence mistake saw him fade to third behind his old rival Big Zeb.
“Only for tipping up at the back of the last he would have been a lot closer and we’ve taken plenty of encouragement from that,” Cooper said yesterday.
It will be the Co Kerry trainer’s first trip to Ascot but he stressed: “Our horse certainly won’t be out of place there, that’s for certain.”
A dozen horses remain in the Victor Chandler, a race won twice by Irish-trained horses in the past – Blitzkreig (1991) and Jeffell (1998) – which has remained an all-home affair since it was promoted to Grade One status five years ago.
Nicky Henderson’s Finian’s Rainbow is currently a 2 to 1 favourite for the two-mile event with the Paul Nicholls pair, Al Ferof and Kauto Stone, next best in the betting.
Cooper will hope to upset those odds although it has yet to be decided who will be on board the horse. The trainer’s son Bryan was on board at Christmas but his father reported yesterday: “There’s racing at Naas on Saturday so I don’t know yet if Dessie (Hughes) will need Bryan.”
The highly-rated novice chaser Flemenstar is on course to run in Leopardstown’s Arkle at the end of the month, after which he may be sold. Trainer Peter Casey said yesterday: “He’ll go to Leopardstown (on January 29th) and the drier ground there will suit him, as that was terrible ground in Naas there last Sunday when he won.
“Then it will be a longer trip (after the Arkle) and maybe he will be sold after that, I don’t know. We had a call but the owner is not going to sell him until after the Arkle anyway.”
Another highly regarded novice set to appear at Leopardstown in a fortnight is “Shark” Hanlon’s Hidden Cyclone who made a winning debut at the Co Dublin track after Christmas. “We’re going for a Grade Two at Leopardstown in a couple of weeks. The idea is we started him over fences at Leopardstown and we want to go back for a Grade One (Dr PJ Moriarty) a month later so we may as well stay there,” Hanlon said yesterday.
“He was brilliant on his debut and he’ll definitely improve.”
