PREVIEW GOWRAN:THE PAUL Nolan-Alain Cawley team enjoyed the greatest success of their careers with Joncol's Hennessy victory last weekend, and Noble Prince can continue their hot-streak in today's Gowran Park feature.
The €50,000 Red Mills Trial Hurdle is one of five Grade Two events run between Gowran and Navan this weekend, and it looks significant that Noble Prince is lining up for today’s two-mile event, a race won by Solwhit last year and by Hardy Eustace before his 2005 Champion Hurdle success.
Noble Prince also held an entry in tomorrow’s Boyne Hurdle, which might have looked a more obvious fit for a horse whose best form has been at two-and-a-half miles plus.
He ran over three miles last time when third to Powerstation at Christmas, but Cawley looked to kick for home far too soon that day and Nolan believes that, on testing ground around Gowran, the trip today won’t be a major issue with Noble Prince.
Ranged against him are some Champion Hurdle outsiders like Muirhead, De Valira and the topweight Jumbo Rio, whose third to Solwhit last time came on better going than he’ll face this time.
Noble Prince’s festival ambitions revolve around the Coral Cup or the County Hurdle, but he can go to Cheltenham in the sort of winning form that his trainer and jockey have got used to.
Today’s other Grade Two is the Red Mills Chase, where two former winners, Glenfinn Captain (2009) and Watson Lake (2007), take on three opponents that include the Thyestes-placed Siegemaster. He emerges just best of them at the ratings, but two-and-a-half miles looks idea for J’y Vole, who has to bounce back from a Lexus flop but whose Durkan third to Joncol in December might be good enough.
Osana is a 16 to 1 shot for next month’s Arkle Trophy, but those odds could contract with a smooth victory in the Flyingbolt Chase at Navan tomorrow. Edward O’Grady’s star, runner-up in the 2008 Champion Hurdle, is already twice a course winner this season and looks at a different level to the six others.
Willie Mullins had the Flyingbolt option for Uimhiraceathair, but instead the champion trainer has opted for the three-mile Ten Up Chase, where the eight-year-old renews hostilities with Orpheus Valley. The latter is half a stone better for a six-length defeat at Gowran last month, but Uimhiraceathair should have progressed significantly from that.
War Of Attrition tops the weights in the Boyne Hurdle and would be a popular winner. He has to concede weight all round, including 7lb to Mourad, but a better option may be the Coral Cup winner Ninetieth Minute, whose last start is best ignored considering Tom Taaffe’s string were hopelessly out of form at the time.
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Flynn stands by Grant
PAT FLYNN has backed his beleaguered stable jockey Danny Grant, who has become just the second rider in Ireland to test positive for cocaine, writes Brian O’Connor.
Grant (31), denies taking the drug and believes the metabolite of cocaine he tested positive for came from medication he takes to combat serious skin problems. A two-hour hearing at the Turf Club was adjourned on Thursday to allow for more pharmacological evidence to be considered.
Grant, a Group Two-winner in Ireland and a champion jockey in India, suffers from eczema, and is also undergoing treatment for the bacterial infection MRSA.
Yesterday, Waterford trainer Flynn, who has employed Grant since his days as an apprentice, gave his backing to the jockey.
“I don’t believe in my heart of hearts that Danny has taken cocaine. He’s not that type of fella. I hope everything will be okay for him. If it is sorted out, then he will continue riding for me,” Flynn said.
“It is unbelievable the cocktail of drugs he has to take for his skin. Danny is covered top to toe. The effort he puts in to do his job is unreal. I’ve seen him win races with his shirt stuck to his back with blood. I don’t know how he has stuck the pain.”
Grant now has an anxious wait for a date to be set at which new pharmacological evidence can be examined by the Turf Club.
