Colm Murphy might be keeping his major Champion Hurdle contender Brave Inca in reserve but the Co Wexford trainer is sending the rest of his A-Team to Down Royal today with the unbeaten Feathard Lady fancied to step up in class in the Anglo Irish Bank Hurdle.
This race saw the subsequent AIG winner Macs Joy beat Brave Inca last year and a six-runner field this time round is headed by the Grade One winner Royal Paradise.
In comparison to him and the rest of the field Feathard Lady is relatively inexperienced having won both hurdle starts and both bumper races to date. It is also almost 11 months since her last run after which heat in a leg brought an end to her novice season.
Crucially, though, Murphy says she has "heaps of pace" and against the likes of Royal Paradise and Sky's The Limit, who would prefer further, that could be crucial. Ruby Walsh will also ride Feathard Lady for the first time. "She is in good order and I don't think soft ground will inconvenience her too much. She is relatively inexperienced and it's her first run for a while but I hope she will go well," said Murphy, who plans to give Brave Inca his first run of the 2005-06 campaign in the Morgiana Hurdle later this month.
Murphy's other big hope of the day is Sher Why Not who takes part in a pretty hot bumper. There are plenty of winners in this but then there were plenty of big reputations at Punchestown last month when Sher Why Not won impressively to make up for some bad luck on the point-to-point field in 2004.
"He doesn't have the best of legs but he has come out of that race very well," Murphy reported yesterday. "I'm a little worried about the ground as he is such a good moving horse but I hope he will handle it."
Pat Fahy used the Beginners Chase last year to give Mariah Rollins a first start over fences and significantly he uses the same race to unveil the highly regarded Macs Flamingo over the bigger obstacles.
The likes of Healy's Pub and Afistfullofdollars makes this a rather hot contest but Macs Flamingo looks like he will have little problem with the testing conditions.
Mount Grace has tried 12 times to win over hurdles but keeps getting done close home. Maybe a first attempt at a longer distance can do the trick in the maiden hurdle.
• Henrietta Knight was fined £1,000 and Timmy Murphy banned for 14 days over the running and riding of Harringay at Towcester. The 9 to 4 chance finished fifth in the two-mile novices' hurdle, beaten 13 and a half lengths. The stewards ruled the mare had been "tenderly ridden" and fined Knight, as well as suspending Murphy from November 14th-27th - ruling him out of the Hennessy meeting - and banning the horse from running between November 8th to December 17th inclusive.
